Buffy's New Job - Part 6 - Endgame
by BuffyL
Summary: !SPOILER ALERT! Do not read this if you haven't seen Endgame yet. This is the sixth and final part of the Buffy's New Job series. Thanos won, but the Avengers can't accept it. Our favorite heroes band together come together once again to save their friends, their families, and the universe. COMPLETED!
1. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Buffy stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her, and sighed. Steve was at the mirror shaving his beard off. He glanced at her with a smirk, taking a moment to admire her more toned physique. It had been 23 days since the snap and she'd spent most of those days beating the stuffing out of the punching bags and lifting more and more weights.

They were waiting for Captain Carol Danvers, the woman in the red, blue, and gold suit that Fury's pager had summoned. She had gone in search of Tony Stark and Peter Parker not long after she arrived and explained who she was. That had been almost a week ago.

Buffy toweled off quickly and grabbed a pair of black yoga pants and a fluffy red sweater. She walked back to the bathroom and leaned in the doorway. "Why the change?"

Steve shrugged. "We're not in hiding anymore." He rinsed off the razor and set it down. Buffy grabbed the towel before he could and gently dabbed the water and leftover shaving cream from Steve's face. "I take it that means you'll miss the beard?"

"It was sexy." She ran her fingers down his now smooth jaw.

He closed his eyes and sighed. Pulling her to him, he leaned down to kiss her, but the building began to shake. They looked around and then ran for the door. Steve grabbed a sweater on the way out and they met everyone out on the front lawn. Carol was flying with a spaceship held above her. She landed it and a few moments later, a blue robot alien thing helped an emaciated Tony Stark down a ramp.

Steve and Buffy ran up to help Tony stand. He leaned on them for support, saying, "I couldn't stop him."

"Neither could we." Steve said.

Tony stopped. "I…. I lost the kid."

"Tony, we lost."

Tony started to say something, but Pepper ran up and hugged Tony tightly. He kissed her cheek and held her tightly. "Let's get you inside." Buffy said.

They got inside and Bruce hooked Tony up to an IV. He demanded that they tell him what had happened with Thanos. They took him to the conference room and Natasha brought up the hologram with the names and pictures of the missing.

"It's been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth." Rhodes said.

"World governments are in pieces." Natasha said. "The parts that are still working are trying to take a census and it looks like he did…. He did exactly what he said he was going to do. He wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures."

"Where is he now?" Tony asked.

"We don't know." Steve admitted. "He just opened a portal and walked through."

"Wow." Tony looked around and spotted Thor sitting in the next room staring angrily at the floor. "What's wrong with him?"

"Well, he's pissed." Rocket the Racoon said. "He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did. But, you know, there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

Tony looked at Rocket in shock for a moment. "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am."

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now." Steve said. "Deep space scans and satellites and we got nothing. Tony, you fought him…."

"Who told you that?" Tony asked. "I didn't fight him. No. He wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight…."

"Ok."

"He's unbeatable."

"Ok. Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates? Anything?"

Tony gave a sarcastic salute. "I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision…. I didn't want to believe it. Thought I was dreaming."

"Tony, I'm going to need you to focus."

"And I needed you. As in past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry. You know what I need?" Tony sniffed at the bowl of soup, before standing up and knocking it over angrily. "I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling you…." He yanked out his IV as Rhodes protested. "That what we needed was a suit of armor around the world, remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed."

"Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

"I said we'd lose, you said…." Tony pointed angrily at Buffy. "_You_ said 'we'll do that together, too.' And guess what? We lost and you weren't there."

"Tony, we _were_ there!" Buffy snapped.

"I didn't see you up there. Were you hiding?"

"You weren't the only one that got their ass handed to them by evil Barney! And in case you missed it, we lost, too. My little sister turned to dust in my arms!"

"Of course you'd have a comeback that makes it all about you."

"Look who's talking, you egotistical ass!"

"Guys!" Rhodes yelled.

"Our friends and family turned to dust around me because we _all_ failed. Everyone here failed to beat Thanos! So now, we need to put our big boy pants on and …."

"And what?" Tony interrupted. "We're going to, what? Get the team together again? The team that you and Cap broke up, may I remind you. We go out and then what? Avenge? That's what we do, right? Our best work comes after the fact? What are we? The Avengers? We're the _A_vengers, not the _Pre_-vengers."

"Why can't you just…."

"Buff, stop!" Rhodes held Tony up before he could fall. "Ok, you made your point! You both have. Just sit down, ok?"

"No, no, no. Here's the thing, you know, she's great." Tony pointed at Carol. "We need you. You're new blood in a bunch of tired old mules…." He Tony fought past Rhodes and advanced on Buffy and Steve. "You know, I got nothing for you Mr. and Mrs. Rogers. I got no coordinates. No clues. No strategies. No options. Zero. Zip. Nada. No trust. Liars." He ripped the nano-suit pack from his chest, grabbed Buffy's hand, and slammed it into her palm. "Here, take this. If you find him, put that on, and you hide. You're good at that." Tony suddenly collapsed and Buffy reached out to catch him. "I'm fine!" He growled at her, pushing her hands away. She tried to steady him, but he passed out.

* * *

Steve walked up to Buffy as she stared out of the windows in her office. "Hey." He said.

"I didn't realize how hurt he would still be." Buffy said, wiping away the tears. The nano-suit pack was sitting on the edge of her desk. "I can't really blame him, though. We disappeared from him completely after we lost Adaline." She turned to look up at her husband. "I almost disappeared from you."

"You didn't, though."

"You wouldn't let me."

"Of course, I wouldn't." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "He's not himself after everything he went through."

"You and I both know he's exactly himself. Just…. More."

"Give him time."

"I shouldn't have yelled at him like that. He just…." She sighed. "I don't seem to have a lot of patience these days. Is he ok?"

"Bruce is with him now." Buffy rested her head on Steve's shoulder. "Come on. Let's go see how he is." She relented and they headed to the medical ward.

Carol, Natasha, and Angel were standing outside of Tony's room. Pepper was at Tony's side with Rhodes and Bruce. Rhodes noticed Buffy and Steve join the group and walked out. "Bruce gave him a sedative. He's probably going to be out for the rest of the day."

"You guys take care of him and I'll bring him a Misoreanal elixir when I come back." Carol said, walking out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked.

"To kill Thanos."

Buffy, Steve, Angel, and Natasha exchanged confused looks and followed Carol. "Hey, you know we usually work as a team here and between you and I, morale's a little fragile." Natasha said, stopping Carol in her tracks.  
"We get it. Up there is your territory, but this is our fight, too." Buffy said.

"You even know where he is?" Rhodes asked.

"I know people who might." Carol responded.

"Don't bother." Nebula, the blue robot alien, said from across the room. "I can tell you where Thanos is." Rhodes nodded at Bruce and followed everyone into the conference room. Rocket looked up from where he'd been sitting across from Thor who was drinking a beer and eating a bowl of bread.

"So, you know where he is?" Buffy asked. "Tell us so we can kill him."

"Thanos spent a long time trying to perfect me and when he worked, he talked about his Great Plan." Nebula said. "Even dissembled I wanted to please him. I'd ask him where would we go when his plan was complete. His answer was always the same: To the Garden."

"That's cute." Rhodes said. "Thanos has a retirement plan."

"So where is he?" Angel asked.

Rocket activated the hologram on the table. "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became Ground Zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions. No one's ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago." The hologram changed from the Earth during and after the Snap to another planet that vaguely resembled Earth with Saturn's rings. "On this planet."

"Thanos is there." Nebula said.

Natasha moved closer to the hologram. "He used the Stones again."

"Hey, hey, hey…." Bruce said. "We'd be going in shorthanded."

"Look, he's still got the Stones, so…." Rhodes said.

"So let's get them." Carol suggested. "And use them to bring everyone back."

"Just like that?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah." Steve said. "Just like that."

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this…." Natasha said. "I mean, we owe it to everyone who's not in this room to try."

"If we do this, how do we know it's going to end any differently than it did before?"

"Because before you didn't have me." Carol announced.

"Hey, new girl," Rhodes snapped. "Everybody in this room is about that superhero life. And if you don't mind my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?"

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe and unfortunately, they didn't have you guys."

Thor stood up and moved in front of Carol. He stared at her for a moment, then held his hand out and summoned his axe, Stormbreaker. It flew past Carol's head, barely missing her. Thor assessed her a moment longer before nodding. "I like this one."

Steve stared at the hologram and then looked at Buffy. "Let's go get this son of a bitch."

* * *

Buffy sat next to Steve in the spaceship that Carol, Nebula, and Rocket had fixed. Carol and Rocket were piloting it. Natasha, Nebula, and Bruce sat in the front below them and Rhodes and Thor sat behind Buffy and Steve. They were all suited up and ready to fight. Angel had opted to stay behind to inform Willow and Okoye what was going on. Buffy reached over and touched her scythe, closing her eyes and allowing herself to feel the power it still held. Power that only she and the other Slayers could feel.

"Ok, who here hasn't been to space?" Rocket asked. Buffy, Steve, Natasha, and Rhodes all raised their hands. "You better not throw up on my ship."

"Approaching jump in three, two, one." Nebula announced. There was a honeycomb portal that opened in front of them as the ship launched forward. Buffy felt herself pressed back into her seat and she gripped her armrests. They shot through and found themselves hovering above the planet Thanos was on.

Carol exited the ship and floated outside of it. "I'll head down for recon." She flew off and Buffy unlatched herself from her seat. She moved forward to look out the window and admire the view.

Natasha walked up and nudged her friend with her shoulder. "If you had told me when I was first called as the Slayer at fifteen that I would be standing on a spaceship looking at another planet in another galaxy, I would've run away screaming from you."

"The way Angel talks about you back then, I doubt that." Natasha said.

"Angel's always had rose colored glasses when it comes to me." That made the Black Widow chuckle. "Trust me, I didn't handle the whole Slayer thing very well. This…." She gestured at their surroundings. "This would've scared the shit out of me."

"He may have rose colored glasses, but he's never been wrong about you." Natasha gave Buffy a grin and walked away.

Steve took her place and squeezed his wife's hand. "Nervous?" He asked.

Buffy shook her head. "Ready. I'm ready to take this bastard down." He nodded uncertainly. "Steve, this is going to work."

"I know it will." He said, kissing the side of her head. "Cause I don't know what we're going to do if it doesn't."

Carol flew up to the window. "No satellites, no ships, no armies, no ground defenses of any kind. It's just him."

"And that's enough." Nebula said.

"We don't want to give him a heads up that we're here." Buffy said. "We should land this thing far enough away that we can be stealthy."

"Good plan." Rocket said. "Let's do this thing."

* * *

There was a small shack on the planet where Thanos apparently lived. The ones that could fly had gone ahead to attack. Buffy, Steve, Nebula, and Natasha made their way to the shack with Rocket ahead of them. When they got there, Carol had Thanos in a head lock, Rhodes was holding one arm, and the other with the gauntlet on it was laying on the floor. Thor and Bruce in the Hulkbuster armor were standing off to the side.

Rocket rolled the gauntlet over and gasped. "Oh no."

The Stones were gone. Buffy felt her heart sink as she turned to Thanos. "Where are they?" She growled.

"Answer the question." Carol demanded.

"The universe required correction." Thanos finally said. "After that, the Stones served no purpose beyond temptation."

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce yelled, shoving Thanos across the room.

"You should be grateful!"

Buffy suddenly attacked, not even realizing she'd moved until she was hitting Thanos in the face over and over with every ounce of strength she had. She never let up, never gave him a chance to fight back with his one good arm. His blood spattered her arm and her face, but she didn't stop. "Where are the Stones?" She screamed at him. "Where are they!?" Steve, Rocket, Carol and Natasha struggled to pull Buffy away from Thanos. "No! Where are they, you murderous piece of…."  
"They're gone!" Thanos spit blood on the floor. "Reduced to atoms."

"You used them two days ago!" Bruce snapped.

"I used the Stones to destroy the Stones. It nearly killed me, but the work is done. It always will be. I am inevitable."

"We have to tear this place apart." Rhodes insisted. "He has to be lying."

"My father is many things." Nebula said. "A liar is not one of them."

"Ah, thank you daughter." Thanos said. "Perhaps I treated you too harshly."

Suddenly Thor raised his hammer and decapitated Thanos. They all stared at Thor in horror. "What did you do?" Rocket asked.

"I went for the head." Thor responded.

Buffy began to shake as she realized their last hope for getting their loved ones back was gone. She turned and walked quickly out of the shack. When she was twenty feet away, her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees. A scream of pure despair and anguish ripped its way out of her throat and echoed around her.


	2. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Buffy finished packing up the last Tupperware of food and went to grab a bag from the pantry. It had been five years since Thor had killed Thanos. The world was a very different place. The Avengers were very different people. Natasha pretty much lived at Headquarters, rarely if ever leaving. She ran operations from there, getting updates from Willow, Rhodes, Carol, Okoye, Nebula, and Rocket on a regular basis. She and Angel had taken a break from each other about two years ago and he had finally moved back to LA nine months ago. He was currently running a shelter at the Hyperion with his son, Connor, for the kids in the city who were orphans due to their parents being dusted in the snap.

Willow and Rhodes travelled the world working with the local governments to help aid them in whatever they needed. Carol had gone back to the cosmos to continue her quest to help other worlds. Okoye was in Wakanda keeping the country intact with the queen as best she could. Rocket and Nebula were also out travelling the universe, working with Carol to help her keep order where they could.

As for Buffy and Steve, about a year after they'd gotten back to Earth, Steve had gone out and bought the old Colonial style house with blue shutters and white siding on ten acres of land that he'd had his eye on all those years ago. Since then, they had worked on building a life there. He was constantly working on little projects for the house. The patio had been the first thing finished and it was their favorite spot to sit and enjoy each other's company under the stars. The next thing finished were the upgrades to the master bathroom and the master bedroom. He had turned it into a large suite by taking over one of the smaller bedrooms next to theirs, making the house a four bedroom. The suite also had a large walk in closet with a wall dedicated to Buffy's shoe obsession. His current project was the kitchen. It was almost finished with the upgrades and new cabinets. He was just waiting on the new dishwasher and the tile for the backsplash Buffy had spent two months picking out.

He also ran support group meetings in the city. Buffy joined him sometimes, but she preferred to deal with her pain on her own. It had been incredibly hard to move forward. Most of the time, she still expected Dawn to call her, or Xander to forward her some stupid email. She expected to spend part of the day exchanging banter with Bucky and Sam, making fun of their playful animosity towards each other. She and Steve would sometimes talk about their struggle to move on. Most often it was in the middle of the night when they had trouble sleeping.

The back door opened, breaking her reverie, and Steve walked in. "Hey, honey."

Buffy smiled at him. "Hey." They shared a quick kiss and he shrugged out of his jacket. "You just missed Pepper and Morgan."  
"How are they?"

"Good. Morgan still loves to tattle on her dad."

"What's he done now?"

"Accidently taught her a very colorful word. Autocorrect likes to change it to duck." Steve laughed. Pepper had started bringing Morgan over to see her aunt Buffy and uncle Steve when Morgan was just a baby. Tony didn't come. The one time he had had been strained and Pepper hadn't asked him to come along again. "How was the meeting?"  
"It was good. What smells so great?"

"I roasted a chicken, baked bread, and made some sugar baked squash and zucchini with onions."  
"And then put it in Tupperware? Am I late?"

She chuckled. "No, you're right on time. I invited Nat to come for dinner tonight, but she called me a little while ago and said she wasn't going to make it. Something about she was too busy with a meeting. So, I thought we could take it to her and eat there since I couldn't coax Rapunzel out of her tower." Buffy zipped up the bag. "I hate that she's there by herself."

"I do too." Steve took the bag from her and opened the back door, grabbing his jacket. "I'll drive?"

"Sure."

* * *

Headquarters was quiet as Steve and Buffy made their way inside. The Slayers were based in Wakanda now. Okoye had enjoyed taking them on. Buffy went to visit and help where she could, but she had pretty much hung her Slayer mantle up in favor of trying to make a life for her and her husband. She came here to visit Natasha and for the occasional work out.

They found Natasha sitting at her desk trying to hold back tears. "Good thing it wasn't me doing the cooking." Steve said. "You seem pretty miserable already."

"You here to do your laundry?" Natasha asked, turning her head with a small smile.

"For your information, the dryer finally came in last week and it works perfectly." Buffy said. "We came to see our friend and have dinner with her like we planned before she called to cancel because she's turning into a bit of a recluse." Steve set the bag of food on the table and headed off to get them plates and silverware. Buffy began to unpack the food on the desk, moving things off of it to make room.

"You know, since you've gone all Susie Homemaker on us, I've had to step up my exercising." Natasha said.

"I doubt Susie benches as much as either of us do."

"Definitely not as much as you." Nat leaned forward and smelled the food in the nearest Tupperware. "That smells like heaven."

"Thank you. It's definitely better than this…." Buffy picked up the small plate with a peanut butter sandwich on it. "Sad sandwich."

"I worked hard on that sad sandwich."

"And I worked hard on this dinner for us. Your sad sandwich has nothing on it." Natasha stuck her tongue out at Buffy and the two women smiled.

Steve walked back in and set the plates down. The three of them passed around the food and dug in. "You know, I saw a pod of whales as I was coming over the bridge." Steve announced after they had cleared half their food off their plates.

"In the Hudson?" Natasha asked.

"There's fewer ships, cleaner water…."

"You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side, I'm about to hit you in the head with my sad sandwich."

"Sorry. Force of habit."

"Try living with him." Buffy joked.

"I like seeing you two like this, you know?" Natasha said. "You seem happy. Settled."

"Oh good. We're pulling that off, then." Buffy looked at her husband. "High five us for seeming happy and settled."

Steve chuckled slightly, but his face was serious. "You know, I keep telling everybody we should move on, grow…. Some do. But not us."

"If I move on, who does this?" Natasha asked.

Buffy reached over and gripped her friend's hand. "Maybe it doesn't need to be done."

"I used to have nothing and then I got this. This job," Nat squeezed Buffy's hand. "This family. And I was…. I was better because of it. And even though they're gone, I'm still trying to be better." Buffy reached over and hugged Natasha tightly.

"I think we all need to get a life."

"You first, Susie." Nat shot back.

A message popped up on the hologram in front of Natasha. She hit the play button and tossed it aside. A video appeared and to their complete and utter surprise, Scott Lang was on the screen. "Oh! Oh! Hi! Hi!" He yelled at the camera. "Is anyone home? This is, uh, Scott Lang! We met a few years ago…. At the airport…. In Germany! I was there and I got really big…."

Buffy, Steve, and Natasha stood up. "Is this an old message?" Steve asked.

"It's the front gate." Natasha said.

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked. "I thought Scott was one of the missing."

"He's not missing anymore."

The three of them took off to meet Scott out front.

* * *

Scott Lang paced in front of Buffy, Steve, and Natasha. He was muttering to himself and even with Buffy's heightened hearing, she couldn't make out exactly what he was saying. He had told them that his daughter, now five years older than when he'd disappeared, had told him as much as she knew. The three of them had filled him in on everything and he in turn had told him where he'd been. Then the pacing and the muttering had started.

Finally, the pacing became a little too much and Buffy snapped. "Scott!" The man stopped pacing and whipped around to look at her.

"Are you ok?" Steve asked.

"Yeah." Scott ran his hands down his face. "Have any of you ever studied quantum physics?"  
Steve and Buffy both said, "No" at the same time Natasha said, "Only to make conversation."

"All right, so, five years ago…. Right before…. Thanos…. I was in a place called the Quantum Realm. The Quantum Realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in there, you have to be incredibly small. Hope! She's my…. Um…. She was my…. She was supposed to pull me out and then Thanos happened and I got stuck in there."

"I'm sorry." Natasha said. "That must've been a very long five years."

"Yeah, but that's just it. It wasn't. For me, it was five hours. See, the rules of the Quantum Realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable…. Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving. Oh, there's way more food here. Do you mind?" Scott started to grab pieces of bread, chicken, and Natasha's sad sandwich.

"Scott, what are you talking about?" Buffy asked.

"So, what I'm saying is…. Time works differently in the Quantum Realm. The only problem is: right now we don't have a way to navigate it. But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it. What if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it? What if there was a way that we could enter the Quantum Realm at a certain point in time, but then exit the Quantum Realm at another point in time? Like…. Like before Thanos?"

"Wait…." Steve shook his head. "Are you talking about a time machine?"

"No. No, of course not. No, not a time machine. This is more like a…." Scott looked at Buffy's skeptical eyebrow. "Yeah. Like a time machine. I know. It's crazy. It's crazy! But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be someway…." Scott stopped and sighed. "It's crazy."

"Scott, I get emails from a racoon." Natasha said. "So, nothing sounds crazy anymore."

"So, who do we talk to about this?"

"I've already talked to someone about it." Buffy said. Steve and Natasha looked at her in shock. "My best friend is a witch. She can tap into some crazy powers. After we got back from…. Up there…. I asked her about it. I asked her if she could reverse everything…. Reverse time. She said there have only been two witches in the history of the universe to have been powerful enough to even _try_ time travel without the Time Stone."

"What happened to them?" Natasha asked.

"All they did was try the spell and they were ripped apart. Physically, mentally, and mystically. They were _completely_ destroyed. The spell…. It was too much even for them. None of us are powerful enough to withstand that."

"This isn't magic, though!" Scott insisted. "It's science!"

"There are still rules and even science has to play by them. The universe doesn't allow imbalance like that."

"So, we figure out how to play by the rules." Steve said. Buffy sighed and looked at him expectantly. "There's only one person I can think of that knows the rules better than anyone. Granted, he knows them just to break them, but…. I guess he's our guy."

* * *

Steve pulled the car to a stop and exchanged looks with Buffy. The cabin in front of them was large and beautiful. It was overlooking a pristine lake. They both sighed and got out of the car. Tony was carrying Morgan towards the house and he stopped.

Morgan let out a squeal, climbed down from her dad's arms and ran towards Buffy as she walked around from the passenger's side. "Aunt Buffy!"

Buffy scooped the kid up and swung her around. "Morgy Monster!" She growled, making the girl laugh.

"Are you and uncle Steve here to see me? You guys never get to come here! This is so cool!" Her eyes got big. "Did you bring me a present?" Steve laughed and produced a little stuffed Statue of Liberty. "Cool!"

"Cool!" Buffy smiled at Morgan and looked over at Tony. He quickly looked away, but she didn't miss the small smile he was trying to hide. "Ok, Morgy Monster." She set Morgan down. "Head on inside and show your mom your cool new toy."

"Ok!" Morgan ran happily inside past her dad.

Tony nodded at them and they walked up to join him on the porch. Scott spilled his story out about the Quantum Realm and his idea about the time travel while Tony poured them drinks. He listened patiently, sitting down and sipping his drink.

"We know what it sounds like." Scott said.

"Tony," Steve said. "After everything you've seen, is anything really impossible…."

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Plank Scale which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony said.

"I can agree to it if you speak English." Buffy said, giving Tony a sarcastic look.

"In laymen's terms," He shot back. "It means you're not coming home."

"I did." Scott said.

"No. You accidentally survived. It's a billion to one cosmic fluke. And now you want to pull a…. What are you calling it?"

"A time heist?"

"Yeah. A time heist. Of course. Why didn't we think of this before? Oh! Because it's laughable? Because it's a pipe dream? Because Willow has already told you it's impossible?"

"The Stones are in the past." Steve said. "We could go back, we could get them."

"We could snap our own fingers." Natasha added. "We could bring everybody back."

"Or screw it up worse than he already has." Tony said.

"I don't believe we would." Steve retorted.

"Gotta say, I sometimes miss that giddy optimism. However, high hopes won't help. If there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist…. I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise. Like Willow's witchy counterparts from a couple hundred years ago."

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." Scott insisted. "All right, that means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events…."

"Whoa, wait…. Are you basing your plan to save the universe and putting our lives in the hands of Marty McFly and Doc from _Back to the Future_?" Buffy asked.

"N…. No."

"Good, cause you had me worried."

"I'm with Blondie." Tony said, much to Buffy's surprise. "And more to the point: That's not how Quantum Physics works."

"Tony," Natasha interjected. "We have to take a stand."

"We did stand. And yet, here we are."

"I know you've got a lot on the line." Scott said. "You've got a wife, a daughter, but I lost someone very important to me. A lot of people did. And now…. Now we have a chance to bring her back, to bring everyone back and you're telling me that you won't even…."

"That's right, Scott, I won't even. I can't."

Morgan ran out onto the porch and climbed in Tony's lap. "Mommy told me to come and save you."

"Good job. I'm saved." Tony said, holding his daughter tightly. Buffy took Morgan's outstretched hand and kissed her fingers. "I wish you'd come here to ask me something else. Anything else." He stood up and Buffy let Morgan's hand go. He looked at Buffy. "I'm honestly happy to see you guys. Hey look, the table's set for six…."

"Tony," Steve blocked Tony from walking in the house. "I get it. And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance."

"I got my second chance right here, Cap. Can't roll the dice on it. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." Tony headed inside with Morgan.

Buffy looked up at Steve from her seat and sighed. He walked over to her and sat down in Tony's vacated seat as Natasha pulled Scott back towards the car to give them privacy. "You don't want to do this."

"I…. I don't know."

"Buff," He took her hand and kissed her palm. "What's wrong?"

"Steve, I don't want to hope again. I can't." She looked down at their clasped hands and tears fell on them. "We lost…. So much. I've spent almost five years trying to come to terms with that." Buffy wiped away the tears. "We've got a good life now. I love what we've built…. What we are building. What we could build…."

"What do you mean, sweetheart?"

"I was going to tell you last night over dinner with Nat, but things…. Changed."

"Tell me what?"

"Willow…. She's been working on a way to help us."

"With what?"

"With a way to move forward with our lives…. Our family." She took a breath. "Angel's son Connor…. There was a spell on Darla to keep the baby safe while she was pregnant so he could be born. Vampires aren't supposed to be able to have kids, you know. So, Willow has been trying to find the spell that was used and…. She found it." He sat back and took a deep breath. "Steve, I want to have a family with you. I want to move our lives forward in the direction we've always wanted to go in and couldn't…. until now. I don't want to throw that chance away on a half-baked idea based on an 80s movie." She looked up to see Pepper watching them expectantly. "You know what? I think I'm gonna stay for lunch."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Hey…. If I can figure something out that makes the half-baked idea all the way baked with a lot less chances to go wrong, will you consider it?"

"I will…. Think about it."

"That's all I can ask for." He leaned over and kissed her gently. "Hey…. I love you."

"I love you, too." Buffy stood up and walked Steve to the stairs. As they got in the car, she turned and headed into the cabin.

"You told him, huh?" Pepper asked, hugging Buffy gently. When Pepper and Morgan had come over the day before, Buffy had told Pepper the news she'd just gotten from Willow. She'd been in such a state of shock, she'd just blurted it out as soon as Pepper had walked through the door.

"Told him what?" Tony asked, walking in from the kitchen.

"That Willow found a spell so Steve and I can have kids." Buffy said. Tony dropped the plate he'd been carrying and Buffy reached out and easily caught it before it hit the floor. "Yeah. That was pretty much my reaction when she told me."

"Wow."

Pepper took the plate from Buffy and walked over to the table. Buffy looked up at her old friend and realized just how much she actually missed him. She missed their easy camaraderie and their playful banter and she hated that they'd lost so much time. "Tony, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry we didn't tell you about Bucky and your parents. I don't have any good excuses for why we hid it from you. We were just stupid for doing that. We should've told you. And I'm sorry I disappeared on you after we lost Adaline. We were just starting to rebuild our relationship and I disappeared. I just wanted to curl up and stop existing. And then I didn't want anyone's pity, especially yours, because it just hurt even more. I didn't want anymore hurt. I didn't think that I could handle it. And we should've been with you when you fought Thanos. I'm so sorry we weren't. I'm an idiot for not coming to you before now. I'm so sorry…." Tony reached out and pulled Buffy to him, hugging her as tightly as he could. They held each other for a long time, neither of them willing to let the other go.

After a while, Morgan walked up to them and said, "Mom says it's about time." The two of them laughed and finally broke apart, wiping away tears.

"She's got a good point. As always." Tony laughed.

"You're turning sappy on me, Tony." Buffy joked.

"Blame it on the kid." Tony swung Morgan up onto his back. "Let's eat."

* * *

Later that night, Buffy and Tony sat on the porch watching the night sky. They had started talking and catching up during lunch and just hadn't stopped. Pepper had asked Buffy to stay for dinner so the two friends could continue talking. Eventually, their chat had turned from catching up and talking about the possible future to their fears over the proposed time heist.

"Do you think that it would actually be possible?" Buffy asked after a long, quiet moment.

"Honestly, Buff, I don't know." Tony answered. "There are so many variables that would have to be worked out…."

"And you've already started."  
"No. I've been catching up with my sister from another mister."

Buffy rolled her eyes with a smile. "You have a multi-track mind. You've been working on the problem _while_ talking to me."

He smirked and squeezed her hand. "All these years apart and you still know me so well."

"So, work the problem, Tony."

"You really want me to?"

Buffy stayed silent for a moment, looking out at the moon's reflection on the water. "If you think it can be done."

He sighed and stood up, walking to the railing. "Even if I do figure out a way to navigate the Quantum Realm, there's no guarantee it'll actually work without screwing everything up." She didn't respond and he turned around to look at her.

"There are some things that I think maybe should be changed." Buffy looked down and played with the sleeve of her jacket.

Tony looked over at her and his heart broke. "You would use that spell Willow found to protect Adaline."

"Is that so wrong?" A tear escaped from her eye and she swiped at it. "I think about the kids Steve and I could have one day and I just think…. If this time travel thing is actually possible, why shouldn't she get the chance to live, too? She was an innocent who did nothing to deserve having her shot at life taken from her." The tears began to fall freely down her cheeks. "I didn't get to hold her, Tony. I woke up and she was just…. Gone. I don't even know if she looked more like me or Steve. I didn't get to tell her goodbye." Tony knelt down and wrapped his arms around Buffy, holding her tightly as she cried. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, Buff. Not about this. You lost your child. I can't even imagine what that must've been like."

"I tried to push Steve away. I wanted to set him free from me because I didn't want to lose him, too. You can see how that worked out."

"Like that had a shot in hell of working." She let out a snort. "I just wish there was something I could've done."  
"There was nothing anyone could've done. I was under constant care with the best technology anyone could ask for, but my body just wasn't designed to give life." She shrugged. "I'm a Slayer."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Somedays the cons outweigh the pros."

"But you have that spell now. You can try again. You're going to try again, right?"

Buffy looked at Tony and sighed. "I want a family with my husband."

"But?"

"But now…. If we actually have the chance to get back the ones that we lost…." She took a deep breath, letting her thoughts line up. "Shouldn't we be able to have that next step of our lives with all of our loved ones to share the joy?" He stared at her for a long moment, feeling the weight of her words.


	3. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Buffy watched Tony drive away before walking into the house. Steve was upstairs, sitting in bed and reading a book. She smiled at him, admiring the normalcy of the scene. He looked up at her, sticking a bookmark in his book to mark his place.

"You're home late." Steve said, watching her walk into the room and close the bedroom door.

"Yeah."

"How was lunch?"  
"It was good." She disappeared into the closet and he got out of bed to lean against the doorframe and watch her. "And dinner was even better. I think Morgan was extremely happy that I was there all day."

"And Tony?"

"Just as happy."

"Really?"

"After you guys left, Tony and I talked. And talked, and talked, and talked. It was nice…. Great. I've really missed him."

"You worked things out?"

"We avoided certain topics, but for the most part, yes." Buffy finished getting changed into a tank top and a pair of pink shorts, carefully set her boots back in their place, and headed for the bathroom. "I actually talked to him about Adaline."

Steve's eyes widened in shock as he followed her. "Wow. You don't even talk about her with me."

"I'm sorry."

"No. No, I get it." He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall behind Buffy. "I don't talk about her either."

She smiled and grabbed a makeup wipe. "We're terrible at the grief thing."

"We really are."

Buffy looked up and met Steve's eyes in the mirror. "If this time travel thing actually becomes something real…. What if we could go back and use that spell Willow found to save her, too?"

"Buff…."

"It's not a stupid idea."

"I wasn't going to say that. I would never say that." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him, catching her eyes in the mirror this time. "I was going to say: Buff, I was thinking about what you told me earlier today and I would be lying if I said the thought of saving her hadn't crossed my mind, too."

"But…." She prompted, hearing the word in his tone.

"But from what Bruce was saying today, I just don't know if it would be possible."

"What was he saying? Time travel _isn't_ possible? Tony thinks it could be."

"He does? He seemed pretty against it…."

Buffy turned and looked up at Steve. "He's working on it. He was distracted on the car ride back here."

"What did you say to him?"

"Nothing. We just talked and I asked him if he really thought it wasn't possible, but he was already thinking of ways to make it possible."

"Bruce is back at headquarters working on it, too. I suppose two big brains are better than one."

"Let's just hope it works."

She finished brushing her hair and tossing it up into a high ponytail and climbed into bed next to Steve. He sat with his back against the headboard and she laid her head on his shoulder, playing with the fingers on his hand closest to her. He watched their hands for a long moment before asking, "You wanna talk about what you told me today?"

"Do we need to talk about it?"

Steve gave her a slightly annoyed look, but sighed and asked the biggest question he'd had since she'd told him that morning. "Buff, what if it doesn't work? What if you get pregnant and we lose that baby, too?"

Buffy lifted her head and looked at him. "I didn't even think about that."

"It's a possibility."

She shook her head. "No, I didn't even think about it because I have complete faith in Willow's abilities. And she's more sure about this spell than she has ever been about any spell she's ever done." He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Seriously. She wasn't even sure about the spell to make the Slayers. I'm pretty sure she just winged that one and look how it turned out. She's spent years working to get this spell for us."

"I don't want to put you through losing another baby, Buff. I can't." He gripped her hand. "And I can't put myself through it, either. It hurt me to lose her and it hurt even more when I almost lost you because of it."

"I promise you, Steve, that won't happen again. When we lost Adaline, it was so unexpected. One minute I was going about my day, happy and in love and excited about the future, and the next…. I woke up and she was just gone like she'd never been there in the first place. I didn't know how to deal with that."  
"Neither of us did."

"Steve, you and I both know that I handled it absolutely horrendously. I was practically suicidal whenever we went on missions. I almost succeeded once." He gripped her hand tightly, not wanting to even think about that time in the Detroit Hellmouth. "I cut my friends off; I cut Tony out completely; I tried to cut you out. I just wanted to stop."

"I'm happy that you finally came around."

"It took some doing. But I can tell you without a doubt that I will never try to push you or anyone else away again." He reached over and pulled her to him, kissing her thoroughly. She laid her forehead against his. "When I became the Slayer, so many things were taken away from me. So many futures were closed off because they just weren't possible anymore. Then there you were and suddenly all of those futures were very real possibilities. And now, one of those futures is within our grasp. I love you so much, Steve, and I want to have a family with you. If we can have that chance, if Willow can give us that…. I don't want to throw it away. I want to take it."

He smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "I want to take it, too."

"So, we get through this time travel thing, hopefully save our friends and family and the other half of the universe's population, and we talk to Willow about the specifics?"

Steve nodded. "That sounds like the best plan."

* * *

It had been a week since Buffy had spent the day with Tony. She'd talked to him every day since then, but he wasn't any closer to a breakthrough. Bruce had been working diligently on the problem and he was sure he had gotten it down this time. Buffy walked into the large training room where Bruce had set up Scott's van with the Quantum Realm machine. Steve was already in there with Natasha, Bruce, and Scott.

"Ok! Here we go. Time travel test number one." Bruce was saying. "Scott, fire up the uh…. The van thing."

"Breakers are set." Steve announced, coming around a pile of crates. "Emergency generators are on standby. Hey honey." He joined her as she made her way across the room to stand by Bruce's machines.

"Good, cause if we blow the grid, I don't wanna lose uh…." Bruce pointed his thumb at Scott who wasn't even paying attention. "Tiny here in the 1950s."

That got Scott's attention. "Excuse me?"  
"He's kidding." Natasha said. She looked up at Bruce with a laugh. "You can't say things like that."

"It was just…. Uh…. Bad joke."

"Please tell me you were actually kidding." Buffy said, glancing over at Scott worriedly.

"I have no idea!" Bruce whispered. "I mean, we're talking about time travel here! Either it's all a joke or none of it is." He looked at Scott and gave him a thumbs up. "We're good! Get your helmet on." Buffy shot Steve a worried look and he gave her a nervous smile right back. "Scott, I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in ten seconds. Make sense?"

Scott waved his hand. "Perfectly not confusing."

"Good luck, Scott." Steve said, taking Buffy's hand. "You got this."

"You're right. I do, Captain America." Scott was suddenly sucked into his machine while Buffy rolled her eyes at Scott's never-ending hero worship.

"On the count of three." Bruce said, flipping switches on his board. "Three, two, one." He hit another switch and Scott reappeared. But it was a much younger version of Scott.

"Uh, guys." Scott said. "This…. This doesn't feel right."

"What is this?" Steve asked as Bruce started to fiddle with the controls.

"Is that Scott?" Natasha asked Buffy.  
"Yes, it's Scott!" Little Scott snapped before being sucked back into the machine.

"Bruce!" Buffy yelped.

A moment later, a very old Scott came through. "Oh, my back!"

"We gotta get him back! Can you bring him back?" Steve asked.

"I'm working on it!" Bruce cried, flipping more switches and hitting more buttons. Scott was pulled through and this time a baby was spit back out.

Buffy actually spit out her coffee as Steve said incredulously, "It's a baby."

"It's Scott!" Bruce argued.

"As a baby!"

"He'll grow."

"Oh my god, Bruce!" Buffy cried. "Bring Scott back!"

"When I say kill the power, kill the power." Natasha rushed over to the power controls as Bruce flipped more switches. "Kill it!" She pulled the lever and as the machine powered down, regular Scott was spit back out.

"Somebody peed my pants." He announced.

"Oh thank god." Natasha said.

"But I don't know if it was baby me, or old me…. Or just me, me."

Bruce turned to Buffy and Steve excitedly. "Time travel!" Buffy shook her head and turned to walk back out. "What? I see this as an absolute win." She kept walking and realized quickly that Steve was following her.

"Is he wrong?" Steve asked as they made it outside the building.

"That baby Scott was a win?" Buffy asked. "Or that he may have peed in Scott's suit?"

"Have you heard from Tony?"

"Not since yesterday morning." She turned a looked up at Steve, taking another sip from her coffee with a grin. "But I'm pretty sure he's on his way here now."

"Did he text you?"

"Nope. I have super hearing and I super hear him speeding like a demon down the driveway."

Sure enough, a moment later a car could be heard and then seen speeding up the driveway. It fishtailed slightly around a turn and came screeching to a halt in front of Buffy and Steve. It backed up slightly to bring the driver's window even with them. Buffy turned her grin to her reflection as the window rolled down to reveal Tony.

"Bit dramatic, you think?" Buffy asked him.

Tony shrugged and looked at Steve. "Why the long face?" He looked back at Buffy. "Let me guess, he turned into a baby."

"Among other things."

"It's the EPR paradox." Tony got out of his car. "Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody could've cautioned you against it."

"Hey, I gave you full disclosure what was happening here and I relayed your fears to everyone else. And you did caution me, but some people decided to ignore it." Steve shot her a slightly annoyed look, but she just held her grin.

"Well, thank god I'm here now."

"You figured it out?"

"I figured it out." Tony held up his hand with a weird watch looking doohickey on it. "A fully functioning time/space GPS." Buffy jumped once and then hugged Tony tightly. He laughed and kissed the side of her head. The two of them turned, arm in arm, to look at Steve. "I just want peace. Turns out, resentment is corrosive and I hate it."

"Me too." Steve said.

"We got a shot at getting these stones, but I gotta tell you my priorities…. Bring back what we lost, I hope yes. Keep what I found? I have to. At all costs. And maybe not die trying."

"I like that last one." Buffy said.

"Would be nice."

"It really would."

Steve held out his hand to Tony. "Sounds like a deal."

Tony reached out and shook Steve's hand and Buffy sighed. "What's your damage, Summers?"

She rolled her eyes. "All those years of pent up frustrations and anger and that's it? You and I cried and hugged for a solid ten minutes and you're telling me that all it took was a damn handshake? Crying is exhausting. Why couldn't we have just skipped it?"

"You're special, Buff. Always have been."

"He's not wrong." Steve said, smiling at his beloved wife.

Tony kept his arm around Buffy's shoulders, steering her towards the trunk. He opened it and picked up a familiar round shield with toys and a blanket on it. Dumping it out, he held it out to Steve.

Steve looked at it for a long moment. "Tony, I don't know."

"Why? He made it for you. Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."

"Oh! Why haven't we ever done that?" Buffy laughed, looking expectantly at Steve. He gave her a slight grin and accepted the shield from Tony.

"Thank you, Tony." Steve said.

"Will you keep that a little quiet?" Tony said. "Didn't bring one for the whole team. We are getting a whole team, yeah?"

"We're working on that right now."

* * *

Buffy, Steve, and Tony sat in the kitchen two days later and enjoyed the tacos that Buffy and Steve had put together. They were taking a break from working on the Quantum Realm time travel stuff. Bruce was headed out to meet Rocket and Nebula when they landed. He and the racoon were going to go get Thor. Rhodes was on his way and would be there soon. Natasha had gone to hunt down Clint.

"You made this salsa?" Tony asked, taking another scoop to add to his tacos.  
"Yeah." Buffy said.

"It's really good!"

"Thank you!"

"She's been whole heartedly embracing the role of wife and homemaker in the last couple of years." Steve announced. "And she's really good at it."

"That's what Pepper has been saying." Tony said.

"She's been telling you about her visits?" Buffy asked.

"She and Morgan fill me in. My kid adores you two. Doesn't stop talking about her aunt Buffy and uncle Steve for days."

"We love her, too." Steve said. "She's got your brain. Once Pepper got over being nervous about it, she started letting Morgan help me remodel the house. Morgan figured out how to wire the speakers up in our bathroom."

"It was her idea to put them in." Buffy added.

Tony smiled and shook his head. "Morgan loves to sing in the shower. I put them in for her in her bathroom and she watched me."

"It was a great idea. Steve added speakers all through the house after that."

Tony watched the two of them for a long moment with a slight grin. "I'm really happy for you two. After everything that's happened…. Ultron, Germany, Russia, Adaline, Thanos…. You're finally settled. You two seem genuinely happy."

Steve looked at Buffy. "She's always made me happy, but honestly, Tony…. We've been trying very hard to find a good balance."

Buffy took Steve's hand. "We've had a hard time actually moving on. We've spent countless nights awake trying to wrap our heads around what happened. I keep telling myself that we did everything we could over and over, but it doesn't help. It never helps. Plain and simple: We lost. We lost…. Too much."

"And that's never happened." Tony said.

"Not really…. No."

"I'm having déjà vu."

"What?"

"Buffy, I think you might be dealing with PTSD." Buffy stared at Tony for a moment and then sighed, remembering a long-ago conversation that had really kick-started their friendship. He had shown up on her doorstep in DC after having a massive panic attack. "You don't deal with emotional trauma very well. Your words." She rolled her eyes. "This time, though…. Building a life with the man you love? The man who basically waited 70 plus years as a Capsicle to get to you? _Much_ better way to deal with your issues."

"Thanks."

"I've got a present for you." Tony walked over to the kitchen door and grabbed the Slayer Scythe he'd set just outside. Steve had given it to Tony under the guise that Tony wanted to upgrade the old technology on it.

"My scythe?"

"Cap says that you haven't touched this since you got back from killing Thanos."

"I put it away."

"Why?"  
"Because I once said that if Dawn dies, I'm done."

"But you're not done. Not by a long shot." He held out the scythe. "Can you still use this thing?"

Buffy reached out and took the scythe. Her breath caught when she felt the connection to the power held within for the first time in five years. She looked at the weapon and smiled, suddenly twirling it in a deadly arc around her.

"I think she remembers." Steve said with a smile.  
Tony grinned back. "I've made some upgrades to it and to your suits. Allow me to acquaint you with them."

* * *

A week later, everyone was assembled at headquarters in the conference room. They had just finished the test of the new Quantum Realm time machine. The thing was a massive platform built in the hanger with an array of special mirrors hanging above it like a crazy chandelier. There were eight rounded columns around the platform with lights and mirrors as well.

Clint had volunteered to be the test dummy for the one and only trial run. He had gone into the machine dressed in the suit that Tony had designed to protect them in the Quantum Realm. The suit also held nanotechnology that would turn their suits into whatever they programmed them to. He had been gone only ten seconds, but the machine had worked.

"Ok, so the how works." Steve said. "Now we've gotta figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Or, substitute the word 'encounter' for damn near been killed by one of the six Infinity Stones." Tony said.

"I haven't." Scott announced. "I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about."

"Regardless," Bruce said. "We only have enough Pym Particles for one round trip each and these Stones have been in a lot of different places throughout history."

"Our history." Buffy reminded everyone.

"So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in." Tony added.

"Which means we have to pick our targets." Clint said.  
"Correct."

"Let's start with the Aether." Buffy turned to Thor. "Guy doing a weirdly accurate impression of the Dude, what do you know?" They all turned to Thor and waited. The dreadlocked, long bearded, pajama and cardigan wearing Norse God didn't move.

"Is he asleep?" Willow asked.

"No, no." Bruce said. "I'm pretty sure he's dead."

Buffy rolled her eyes and picked up one of the beer cans sitting near Thor. She leaned forward and popped the top on one of them in front of Thor's face. He shook to life and reached out for the can. Buffy pulled it away from him before he could grab it. "Hi. Welcome back. Tell us what you know about the Aether and I'll let you have this."

He glared at her, but she just smiled at him. After a long moment, Thor sighed and stood up. He walked over to the computer screens and took his sunglasses off. "Uh, where to start…. The Aether…. First, it's not a stone. Someone called it a stone before. It's more kind of an angry sludge sort of thing. Someone's going to need to amend that and stop saying that." Buffy poured some of the beer onto the floor and Thor whipped around. "Hey! No, no! Uh, here's an interesting story! About the Aether. My grandfather, many years ago had to hide the stone from the Dark Elves. Oooooh, scary beings…. So, uh, Jane actually…." A picture of Jane Foster popped up on the screen. "Oh, there she is! Jane was an old flame of mine. You know, she stuck her hand inside a rock this one time and then the Aether stuck itself inside her and she became very, very sick, so I had to take her to Asgard. Which is where I'm from. And we had to try and fix her. We were dating at the time, you see, and I got to introduce her to my mother…. Who's dead. And um…. You know, Jane and I aren't even dating anymore. Yes, these things happen though…. Nothing lasts forever. The only thing that…."  
Tony tried getting Thor to wrap things up. "What don't you sit…."

"I'm not done yet. The only thing in life that is permanent is impermanence." Buffy poured a little more beer out and Thor stumbled over to her. "Ah!"

She held it out of reach from him and grabbed a plate from the leftovers of the small buffet that had been set up. "You should have some breakfast, Thor. Maybe some eggs and toast?"

"No. I'd like a Bloody Mary."

"Sit." She handed the beer to Natasha, who kept it away from Thor, and began to make Thor a plate of eggs, bacon, and buttered toast.

"I don't want it." Buffy just glared at him and he stared defiantly at her. "I…." She just continued to stare until Thor relented and took the plate. "You're very bossy."

"And you're hungover. Eat some grease. It'll help." She turned to Rocket. "You've had a run in with the Power Stone, yes? Tell us about it."

"Nice job with the drunken god, Slayer. You're pretty scary for such a small package." Buffy shrugged. "Ok, Power Stone. Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag."  
"Is that a person?" Bruce asked.

"Morag's a planet! Quill was a person."

"A planet?" Scott asked. "Like in outer space?"

"Awe look!" Rocket ruffled Scott's hair. "It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything. Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space."

"Rabbit, the Slayer is giving you her scary look now." Thor said.

Rocket turned and looked at Buffy. "I ain't hungover, so that won't work on me."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "So, we need to go to Asgard and get the Aether out of Jane…."

"And we need to go to Morag and get the Power Stone before Quill." Steve finished. "We've got two when and wheres. Good. What's next?"

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." Nebula said.

"What is Vormir?" Natasha asked.

"A dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence. It's where Thanos murdered my sister."

Everyone exchanged worried looks at the heavy revelation. "Not it." Scott said softly.

"We should take a break." Bruce said.

"I agree." Steve said. "We can meet back here in a little while and work on this some more."

Willow followed Buffy and Steve out of the conference room. "I can't believe it actually worked."

"Neither can we." Buffy said.

"I'm not going to go with you guys."

"Why not?"

"Because if you guys get those stones and bring everyone back, someone has to warn the others. Once the plan is in place, I'm going to head to Wakanda and let Okoye know. We can start getting prepared. Every Slayer that we had was there and they're going to be back. Half the nation of Wakanda will be back. Dawn, Xander, and Giles will come back. I want to be there when they do."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah. That makes sense."

"I also want to start working on a plan to get the world's governments prepared. It's going to be a massive adjustment and I want to do anything we can do to ease the burden for everyone. Oh, someone should let Angel know."

"I think Natasha is going to do that." Steve said. "She wanted to talk to him anyway."  
"He misses her."

"She misses him, too." Buffy said. "Once this is all over, I hope they can work things out."

"Speaking of working things out…. Did you tell Steve about…."

"I did."

"We've talked about it some." Steve said. "I'm eternally grateful to you for searching for it."

"It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that. Even before half the world disappeared. I got lucky when I finally found it."

"How _did_ you find it?" Buffy asked.

"Research. I had to talk to some Oracles for the Powers That Be; convened with a Higher Being; and I had to use a little blood magic, too." Willow reached out and took Steve and Buffy's hands. "You guys are worth every second of it. If anyone in this world deserves to find happiness and a family of their own, it's you two." She squeezed their hands and headed down the hallway.


	4. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Buffy walked behind Steve into the hanger. They were followed by Tony, Natasha, Nebula, Rhodes, Clint, Scott, Rocket, Thor, and Bruce. They were all in their Quantum Realm suits and ready to head into the past. Steve, Buffy, Tony, Bruce, and Scott were going to New York in 2012 to retrieve the Time, Mind, and Space Stones. Nebula and Rhodes were going to Morag in 2014 to retrieve the Power Stone. Clint and Natasha were heading to Vormir to retrieve the Soul Stone. And Thor and Rocket were heading to Asgard 2013 to retrieve the Reality Stone, also known as the Aether.

They mounted the platform and Buffy glanced up at the mirrors above. "Five years ago, we lost." Steve said, drawing her attention to him. "All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams. You know your missions: Get the Stones, get them back. One round trip each. No mistakes. No do overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives and we're going to win. Whatever it takes. Good luck."

"He's pretty good at that." Rocket said.

"Right?!" Scott agreed.

"He's been practicing in the mirror." Buffy joked, giving her husband and playful grin.

"All right, you heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green." Tony called over to Bruce.

Buffy looked up at Steve and he reached over to squeeze her hand. They shared a lingering look until Bruce joined the group on the platform. Natasha looked over at Buffy with a grin. "See you in a minute." The two women shared a fist bump before Buffy's heart sped up as the machine activated. She hit the button for her helmet and watched as the others did the same.

Next thing Buffy knew, she was dropping into the Quantum Realm and following the others through a crazy light show. She and four others split off automatically and they suddenly appeared in an alleyway covered in destruction. The five of them hit the buttons to hide their Quantum Realm suits and Buffy giggled at her husband's old uniform. He shot her a look and she just grinned back at him.

"So, two Stones uptown and one down?" Buffy asked. "Bruce, you're heading to see the good Doctor, right?"

"Yes." Bruce agreed.

"Tiny, you're with me." Tony said. "We'll go after the Tesseract up in the penthouse."  
"Buffy and I will go after Loki's staff with the Mind Stone." Steve said. "Stay low and keep an eye on the clock."

A noise startled them and they all turned to see the Hulk attack a Chitauri with a car. He bashed the car on the alien over and over, making another alien run away. They watched the Hulk throw a tire and then jump up and down on the broken car.

Buffy looked up at Bruce and laughed at him trying to hide behind his hand. "Maybe smash a few things along the way?" She said.

Bruce sighed. "I think it's gratuitous, but whatever." He ripped his shirt off and made his way out to the street making grunting noises. He halfheartedly punched a Taxi and tossed a motorcycle.

Steve took Buffy's hand and they headed for Stark Tower. "The nostalgia is real." She said, punching a Chitauri out of her way. "The suits, the setting…."

Steve hit a Chitauri with his shield. "I didn't say it then, but I will now. I always thought you looked hot in this suit."

"Oh, I know."

"You did?"

"Of course I did! I saw the way you were looking at me when I first put it on. I wasn't so busy being uncomfortable to notice your appreciative stares."

"We waited way too long to admit our feelings for each other." He held the door open for her as they made their way into Stark Tower.

"I agree wholeheartedly."

"Better hustle, guys." Tony said in their earpieces. "Things look like they're just about wrapped up."

"Got it." Steve said. "We're approaching the elevator now."

"What happens if we run into our previous selves?" Buffy asked. "There was that one time with two Xanders…."  
Steve looked at Buffy with wide eyes. "You haven't told me that story."

"I haven't? Wow. This demon tried to split me in two, one Buffy would be…. Well…. Plain old human Buffy with no powers and probably the shallow version of myself. The other would be Slayer Buffy. All slay all day Buffy. Xander took the hit, though, instead."

"Ugh, Mr. Rogers, I almost forgot," Tony said. "That that suit did nothing for your ass."

"Why are you looking at my husband's ass?" Buffy asked as Steve said, "No one asked you to look, Tony."

"It's ridiculous."

"I think you look great, Cap." Scott added. "As far as I'm concerned, that's America's ass."

"Can we please stop talking about my husband's ass?" Buffy snapped. "It would be greatly appreciated. Have past us left to coordinate search and rescue yet?"

"They're heading out now." Tony said. "Your old friends Rumlow and Sitwell have the staff."

"I totally forgot they were here, too."

"Ok, Stuffy…."

"Please don't call us that." Steve said out of habit.

"I've got our scepter in the elevator just past the 80th floor."

Steve hit the down button for the elevator. "On it. Head to the lobby."

Buffy looked up at Steve. "This has a sense of déjà vu."

"I don't think we'll be jumping eight stories through a glass roof this time."

"And I'm not shot."

There was a moment of silence and then Steve nodded. "You're right. it still feels like déjà vu."

The elevator doors opened and the Hydra Strike Force with Sitwell looked up. "Cap. Miss Summers, it's a pleasure to meet you. I, uh…. I thought you two were coordinating search and rescue." Sitwell said as Buffy and Steve boarded the elevator.

"Change of plans." Steve said, moving to the middle of the elevator with his wife.

Rumlow looked over at them. "Cap. Miss Summers."

Steve nodded. "Rumlow."

Buffy noticed the men moving towards their guns. "So listen, Secretary Peirce just called us. We're running point on the scepter."

Sitwell turned to look at her. "I don't understand, ma'am."

"Ew. Stop with the ma'am. I get enough of that from Cap." She smiled at Sitwell and he gave her a nervous smile back. "Look, apparently there's word going around that there's going to be an attempt to steal it. Pierce asked us to keep our eyes on it."

"Sorry, Summers, we can't give you the scepter." Rumlow said, turning to tower over her.

Buffy just looked him up and down with a dangerous grin. "You're trying to intimidate me, right? This is you being intimidating? That's cute. You seem to be forgetting that I'm not some little girl Fury picked up off the street."

"Back down, Rumlow." Sitwell said. "Fury would have your ass if you picked a fight with the Slayer." He turned to Buffy and Steve. "I'm going to call the director."

"That's ok." Steve said firmly. "Trust me." He leaned forward and whispered in Sitwell's ear, "Hail Hydra."

Sitwell looked up at Steve and then at Buffy. She just smiled at him. "Give them the case." Sitwell said.

Rumlow hesitated for a moment, but then handed Steve the case. The elevator doors opened a moment later and Buffy and Steve got off. They felt the stares from the elevator and breathed a sigh of relief as they heard the doors close.

"I _really_ hate that guy." Buffy said. "Always did."

"It was a good day watching you hand him his ass in that elevator."

"You tossing him into the ceiling was pretty great, too."

"We make a good team."

"Always have. Speaking of teams, we haven't heard from Tony and Scott in a while." She activated the mic on her earpiece. "Tony, what's going on? Tell us you found that cube."

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me." Steve said. Buffy's head whipped up and she spotted 2012 Steve walking towards them with his cowl on. She was surprised that her 2012 self wasn't with him.

"I have eyes on Loki." 2012 Steve said into his earpiece. "14th floor. Good work, Buffy."

Buffy looked around, expecting her past self to be there, before she realized he thought she was her past self. They must've split up to look for Loki. And why Loki was missing was a big mystery that would need solving. "Oh, uh…. Yeah. Yay me."

"Let's get him back down to Thor." 2012 Steve looked at Steve carrying the case. "Why does he have that?"

"Oh, uh…. It's heavy?" Steve shot her a look and she shrugged. "It's been a while since I've had to play spy. I'm rusty." She turned back to 2012 Steve and took a few steps forward. "Look, uh…. Steve…. He's not Loki. He's you, ok? We're trying to save the world and I promise we'll bring this right back."

"He must've used the staff on you." 2012 Steve said. He held out his hand to her. "Step away from him and we'll deal with this, ok?"

"Used the…. Ooooh! Right. That thing does the mind control thing. No, Steve, look, here's the thing…." She sucker-punched 2012 Steve in the side of the head, sending him sprawling back. He landed in a heap and she turned to Steve. "I am so sorry."

Steve chuckled and glanced at his past self laying prone on the ground as they walked past him. "How much force did you use on that?"

"Uh…. Like 70 percent. I didn't want to hurt you…. Him too bad."

"Have I ever been on the receiving end of 100 percent?"

"God no! I'm scared I'll give you brain damage or something." Suddenly something hit her in the back of the head, hard, and she dropped to the ground.

Steve turned just in time to get his shield up and block the blow from 2012 Steve's shield. He dropped the case and went on the offensive against his past self. While Buffy was on all fours on the ground, Steve did his best to keep the fight away from her. She shook her head, regretting it, and remembered that Nat had gotten Clint back by hitting him in the head repeatedly until it knocked the mind control off him. 2012 Steve must've used all of his strength on her to knock the mind control he thought she was under off of her.

"Ow!" She growled, gingerly touching the back of her head where she expected a knot to be. The sounds of glass breaking made her turn her head just as both Steves went tumbling over the edge with the case just ahead of them. "Steve!" The two of them tumbled down fourteen floors, hitting stairs and more glass on their way down.

Buffy shot to her feet, ignoring the headrush, and started making her way down, jumping from one floor to the next. She held out one of her gloves and called Steve's shield to her as she let go about eight floors up. The shield flew to her hand and she curled into it, hitting the floor below. The blow hurt some, but the shield took the impact like a champ.

2012 Steve was in front of her, moving to attack her Steve, so she tossed her Steve his shield as she dodged around 2012 Steve faster than he could track. Grabbing his face, she kissed him and then punched the hell out of him. He went down like a sack of potatoes and she turned to her Steve with a wide grin. "_Now_ I'm your first kiss since 1945!"

"Has that been bugging you this entire time?" Her Steve asked, checking her head for any damage. There was a knot there, but otherwise she seemed ok.

"Sort of. But not for my sake. For yours. You didn't enjoy that particular experience. You said she jumped on you like a monkey, so…." She glanced at 2012 Steve. "I fixed it. Granted, he got 95 percent on that punch right after and he probably won't be remembering it but we know. And that's all that matters, right?"

Steve shook his head and took a moment to thoroughly kiss his wife. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

He looked down at his past self as he picked up the staff and shook his head. "That is America's ass." Buffy laughed and they ran out of the building to head to the rendezvous point. They took the rooftops to avoid any police and Buffy's past self. They dropped down to the alleyway and Tony called their names from a burnt-out sedan.

"Sorry, guys. We got a problem."

Scott, sitting in the backseat, laughed sarcastically. "Yeah we do."

Tony and Scott took turns laying out what had happened with the Tesseract. They had failed at getting it and Loki had actually managed to steal the thing again before disappearing. "Well, what are we going to do now?" Steve asked.

"You know what, give me a break Steve! I just got hit in the head with a Hulk." Tony snapped.

"And I just got hit in the back of my head by my not-yet husband." Buffy said. "We still managed to get the staff."

"Cap hit you?"

"He thought I was mind controlled and was trying to rescue me."

"Are you ok?"

"Lucky for me, I'm stronger than him."

"Always have been." Steve said affectionately.

"You said that we had one shot!" Scott cried, pulling their attention to him. "This…. This was our shot. We shot it! It's shot! Six Stones or nothing! Six Stones or nothing!"

"You're repeating yourself. Did you know that?" Tony said. "You're repeating yourself."

"You're repeating yourself. You're repeating yourself."

"Dude, come on!"

"You know what! No! You never wanted the time heist. You weren't on board with the time heist."

"I dropped the ball."

"You ruined the time heist!"

"Is that what I did?"

"Shut up!" Buffy yelled. "Both of you! I swear, you're like three-year-olds right now." Both men shut their mouths and looked chastised. "Thank you!" Tony opened his mouth, but Buffy pointed at him with a glare and he shut his mouth again.  
"Are there any other options with the Tesseract?" Steve asked.

"No, no, no! There's no other options." Scott snapped. He slammed the door of the sedan. "There's no do-overs! There's no going anywhere else. We have one particle left each. That's it! All right! We use that, bye bye, you're not going home."

"Yeah, well if we don't try, then no one else is going home either."

"I got it!" Tony said, jumping out of the sedan. "There's another way to retake the Tesseract and acquire new particles. Little stroll down memory lane. Military installation. Garden state."

Buffy and Steve exchanged looks. They had been there and found where S.H.I.E.L.D. had originated. Hank Pym had worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. once and Howard Stark had helped found it. Howard had found the Tesseract while looking for Steve after the plane crash and it had been in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody until the 80s.

"When were they both there?" Steve asked.

"They were there at a time…. I have a vaguely exact idea."

"How vague?"

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked. "Where are we going?"

"I know for a fact they were there and I know how I know." Tony insisted.

"Guys, what is it!?"

Steve looked at Buffy and she nodded. "Well, it looks like we're improvising." He said.

"Great." Tony said.

"What is it? What are we improvising?" Scott asked.

Steve walked over to Scott and handed him the staff. "Scott, get this back to the compound."

"Suit up." Tony said.

"What's in New Jersey?" Scott asked.

"Zero four. Zero seven. One nine seven oh." Tony directed with Buffy and Steve repeating as they set the coordinates on their suits.

"Are you sure?" Buffy asked.

"Excuse me!" Scott yelled. "Captain! Cap…. Steve! Buffy! Sorry, look, if you do this and it doesn't work, you're not coming back."

"Thanks for the pep talk, piss ant." Tony said. He looked at Buffy and Steve. "You trust me?"

"I do." Steve said.

"Of course." Buffy agreed.

"You're call, Mr. and Mrs."

"Let's go." They both said. The three of them activated their suits and slid into the Quantum Realm.

A moment later, they appeared behind a large army truck in the bustling base of Camp Lehigh. All the signs said that it was the birthplace of Captain America. Steve changed his suit into 70s army fatigues and Tony changed his into a 70s power suit. They looked at Buffy expectantly, but she looked down at herself.

"Um…." She turned her suit into a long sleeved, button up, white and blue dress that stopped an inch or so above her knees. She was wearing black, chunky heels. Grabbing the hair tie in her hair, she yanked it out and let her long blonde hair flow naturally. "Clearly I don't work here."

"Where did you come up with that?" Tony asked.

"My mom. I remembered a picture I saw of her in high school. She was wearing this dress." Both men smiled at her. "Oh, don't get all gushy now. Let's get the particles and the Tesseract."

"Clearly, you weren't actually born here, right?" Tony asked Steve as they made their way across the base towards the ammunitions storage building where S.H.I.E.L.D.'s base was.

"The idea of me was." Steve clarified.

"Right, well, imagine you're S.H.I.E.L.D. running a quasi-fascistic intelligence organization. Where do you hide it?"

"In plain sight." Steve nodded his head at the ammunitions building where two men were making their way inside. Tony and Steve started walking towards it, but Buffy hesitated.

"Uh, Buff?" Tony asked.

"Sorry, it's just…. The last time I went down there…." Buffy looked at Steve and he walked back over to her.

"It's ok." He assured her. "We're right here with you. That won't happen again. I promised you."

She took a deep breath. "I'm ok. Yeah…. So, who am I going with?"

"Me." Tony said. "You'd look suspicious following a soldier around."

"He's right." Steve agreed. "I'll meet you guys back at the truck where we came in at."

"Gotcha." Buffy nodded. "Get the Tesseract and get gone." They headed inside the building and got on the next elevator. A woman got on, reading a file, and she eyed them suspiciously. Thankfully the elevator stopped where Buffy and Tony would be getting out.

"Good luck on your mission, Captain." Tony said to Steve.

"Good luck on your project, Doctor." Steve said. He smiled at Buffy. "Ma'am."

She smiled back and Tony rolled his eyes. "Quit flirting with the soldiers, sis."

"Take all my fun." Buffy joked, following Tony down the hallway. He activated his glasses and led them into a vast room full of high-tech lockers.

They rushed through the room as he used the x-rays on his glasses to find the Tesseract. After what seemed like forever, he found the locker thing they were looking for. Buffy grabbed a nearby briefcase and handed it to Tony. He used his Iron-Man nano suit gauntlet to laser his way through the lock and opened the locker. The Tesseract sat there glowing blue.

Tony looked at Buffy. "We're back in the game."

"Hurry up." She said, glancing up and down the room.

He nodded, grabbed the Tesseract with the gauntlet, and stuffed it into the briefcase. Just as he shut it, a voice rang out. "Arnim! Arnim you in here? Arnim?" And then suddenly, there stood Howard Stark. Tony started to panic and walk the other way, but Buffy grinned at Howard.

"Oh my gosh!" She gushed, genuinely excited to meet him. "You're Howard Stark!"  
"That's me." Howard looked at her suspiciously and then at Tony making his way towards them. "I'm looking for Dr. Zola. Have you seen him?"

"Uh, no. Dr. Zola, no. Haven't seen a soul." Tony babbled. He tripped over a chair and apologized to it. Buffy shot him a confused look.

"Do I know you two?"

"No, sir, I'm, uh…."

"We're visitors from MIT." Buffy said. "Well, my brother is. I'm just following him around."

"Huh, MIT." Howard nodded appreciatively. "Got names?"

"I'm Buffy. Buffy Summers."

"Nice to meet you…." Howard paused before saying her unusual name. "Buffy."

"It's short for Elizabeth. And this is my brother…."  
"Howard." Tony said. "Howard Potts."

Buffy groaned inwardly when Howard looked at Tony and then at her. She held up her left hand to display her wedding ring set. "My husband is away in Europe on business and I just didn't feel like going again, so I'm visiting my brother."

"That's sweet. I don't have any siblings."

"Count yourself lucky." Buffy laughed.

Howard looked over at Tony. "You look a little green around the gills, there, Potts."

"Oh, I'm fine." Tony said. "It's just, uh…. Long hours."

"Wanna get some air?"

Tony took too long to answer and Buffy smiled at Howard. "Air sounds great! I came here for a vacation and he drug me to work." She grabbed the briefcase and handed it to Tony.

Howard laughed as they made their way out of the room. "You're the younger sibling, I'm guessing."

"By eleven years."

"Is he protective of you?"

"Oh yeah. He definitely can be."

"I hear older brothers are tough judges of significant others. Does he like the husband?"

"They have their ups and downs, but in the end…." Buffy looked at Tony. "He loves Steve like a brother." They made it to the elevator and the door opened a few seconds later.

"Flowers and sauerkraut…. You got a big date tonight?" Tony asked.

"Oh, my wife's expecting. And uh," Howard held up the flowers. "I've spent too much time at the office."

Buffy looked up at Tony in shock. She hadn't registered that it was Tony's birth year. "Congratulations." She both said at the same time Tony did.

"Hold these, will you?" Howard handed the flowers and can of sauerkraut to Tony so he could fix his tie.

"How far along is she?" Buffy asked.

"Uh, I don't know. About…." Howard moved his hand in front of his stomach to show that his wife was pretty far pregnant. "She's at the point where she can't stand the sound of my chewing. I guess I'll be eating dinner in the pantry again."

"I have a little girl." Tony announced.

"A girl would be nice. Less of a chance she'd turn out exactly like me."

"Would that be such a terrible thing?" Buffy asked.

"Let's just say that the greater good is rarely outweighed by my own self-interest."

"I don't know. I think if you have a son, he would turn out pretty great."

"Well, thank you. What about you, Buffy? Do you have any kids?"

"Oh, uh…. I did, but…." Buffy looked down and shook her head. "She…. She died. I lost her about six months into the pregnancy."

Howard reached out and placed a caring hand on her upper arm. "I'm so sorry."

"Thank you."

"You probably don't want to hear about my story."

"Oh! No! Tell away. Please. Have you thought of any names?"

"Well, if it's a boy, my wife likes Elmanzo."

"Huh." Tony said loudly. "You might want to let that stew a while."

"You've got time to think about it." Buffy said.

"Can I ask you two something?" Howard asked. "Were you nervous?"

"Wildly." Tony said.

"I walked on eggshells after I found out I was pregnant." Buffy said.

"Did you feel qualified?" Howard asked. "Like you had any idea how to successfully operate that thing?"

"Nope. I had no idea. I always imagined I would've handled it like my brother did, though."

Howard looked at Tony expectantly. "I literally pieced it together as I went along." Tony said. "I thought about what my…. Our dad did…."

"My old man, he never met a problem he couldn't solve with a belt." Howard said with a nod.

"I thought our dad was tough on me, and now looking back on it, I just remember the good stuff. You know, he did drop the odd pearl."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"No amount of money ever bought a second of time."

"Smart guy."

"He did his best."

"I tell you what, the kid's not even here yet and there's nothing I wouldn't do for him." Howard moved towards his waiting car and they spotted Steve waiting for them. Tony held up the case and pointed at it. Steve nodded just as Howard came back towards them to collect his flowers and sauerkraut. "Good to meet you, Potts. And you, too, Buffy."

"It was amazing meeting you." Buffy said, shaking Howard's hand. "I'm so glad we ran into you."

"Howard, everything's going to be all right." Tony said to his father. "Thank you." He awkwardly hugged Howard and the elder Stark looked over at Buffy.

She just smiled and shook her head. "He's a _big_ fan." Tony let go of his dad and stepped back with Buffy. She wrapped her arm around his waist and he threw his arm around her shoulders. They both waved at Howard and started walking towards where Steve was hiding. "So, that was your dad."

"Yeah." Tony said.

"He's kind of everything I imagined."

"Really?"

"I've been telling you for years that you're a lot like him."

"You met him for, like, five minutes."

"I have a very good feel for people. Plus, my husband talks a lot about him and so do you. I feel like I know him. I feel like he should've been my dad."

"Why do I feel like growing up with you would've been a nightmare?"

"I mean, I was burning down gyms at sixteen and sneaking out to slay vampires at all hours of the night."

"I would not know how to have dealt with that."

Buffy looked at Steve as they met up with him. "You got the particles?"

"Yup." Steve said. "And I see that you met Howard Stark."

"I did. I'll tell you about it later. Can we go home now?"


	5. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Buffy sat on a bench at the edge of the dock curled in a ball and sobbing into her knees. It had never occurred to her that they might lose one of them on this mission. They had already lost so much, how could they possibly have lost so much more? Everyone had made it back to Headquarters except Natasha. She'd sacrificed herself to get the Soul Stone. Clint had tried to stop her, tried to offer himself for the Stone, but she wouldn't let him.

Tony was the first one to find Buffy. Upon hearing the news from Clint, she had walked quickly out of the room, tearing off her Quantum Realm suit as she went, before blindly running out of the building. She'd found herself on the dock out on the extensive lake behind Headquarters before she had collapsed and began crying. He walked over and sat down next to her, wrapping his arm around her. She let him hold her tightly until Steve found them a few minutes later.

An hour later, Clint, Bruce, and Thor found Buffy sitting between Steve and Tony. Tony was holding Buffy's hand while Steve had his arm around his wife and her head was laying on his shoulder. They glanced up at the newcomers and Thor handed Buffy a sweater. She took it gratefully and slipped it on over her tank top.

"Do we know if she had family?" Tony asked after a long moment.

"Yeah." Steve said. "Us."

"What?" Thor asked, walking up to them.

"I'm just asking him a question."

"Yeah, but you're acting like she's dead. Why are we acting like she's dead? We have the Stones, right? As long as we have the Stones, Cap, we can bring her back. Isn't that right, Buffy? So stop this shit! We're the Avengers! Get it together."

"We can't get her back." Clint said.

"What?"

"It can't be undone. It can't."

Thor laughed. "Look, I'm sorry. No offense, but you're a very Earthly being and we're talking about space magic. 'Can't' seems very definitive, don't you think?"

"Thor…." Buffy started.

"No! You of all people here don't get to say she can't come back. You're here! You died and you came back!"

"That magic doesn't exist anymore. It's long gone. You know that."

"Then we go get it! We have the ability! We go pluck it from before and we use it to…."

"It _can't_ be undone!" Clint yelled. "Or that's at least what the red, floating guy had to say! Maybe you wanna go talk to him!? Ok, go grab your hammer and you go find him and talk to him!" Buffy stood up and walked over to Clint. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. He wrapped his arms around her as he began to cry. "It was supposed to be me. She sacrificed her life for that god damn Stone, she bet her life on it…."

Bruce grabbed the bench that Buffy, Steve, and Tony had been sitting on and threw it out into the lake with a yell. "She's not coming back." He said dejectedly.

"We have to make it worth it." Buffy said, wiping at the tears that hadn't ever stopped. "We have to make sure we grant her last wish. It's the best way to honor her memory."

"We will." Steve said.

* * *

Steve walked into Natasha's room and found his wife there with Angel. He had shown up not long after the group had gotten back into the building from the dock. Natasha had told him the plan before they'd left and he had dropped everything to come back to New York. It had been a little over twenty-four hours since then and they'd all gotten some rest. Tony, Bruce, and Rocket were in the lab working on making a new Infinity Gauntlet out of an Iron Man gauntlet.

"I've spent almost 300 years on this planet," Angel said. "There's been only four women that have had a major impact on my life in all that time. One turned me into a monster; one accepted all of me, demon and man, and she was the first person that I gave my entire heart and soul to; one showed me there was still a purpose to my life even without you in it; and then there was Nat."

"You loved her." Buffy said.

"I did. Very much. She was so different. She challenged me and we pushed each other. I found someone I could walk the path of redemption with."

"She was pretty miserable without you."

"So was I, but it's what she wanted. I always figured we would work things out in the end."

"She did, too."

Angel sighed. "This is the worst part about being an immortal being: losing the ones you love while you just…. Continue on. Unchanging."

"You are so wrong about that. You have changed. You allowed yourself to find happiness and balance. You're a better man than the one I met twenty-six years ago."

"I really don't feel like it sometimes."

"I'm so sorry, Angel."

He shook his head. "You know, as sad as I am…. I'm so incredibly proud of her, too."

"We all are." Steve said. Buffy and Angel turned to him. "She was a hero."

"She never thought of herself as one."

"No, that she didn't. But maybe she finally realized it in the end."

"How's it going in the lab?" Buffy asked.

"They're done. They just finished. We're all going to get suited up now. I came to tell you."

"Ok." Buffy stood up. "Angel, are you joining us?"

"Of course I am. Though," He looked down at his standard black pants and black sweater. "I'm as suited up as I'm going to get."

"Not all heroes wear cool suits built by a Wakandan princess or a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Buffy gave Angel's hand a squeeze and then followed Steve out of the room.

* * *

"All right," Rocket announced. "The glove's ready. Question is: Who's going to snap their fricking fingers?"

"I'll do it." Thor said, walking up to the group.

"Excuse me?" Tony asked.

"It's ok." Thor made a grab for the glove and Tony tried to block him. Buffy reached out and grabbed Thor's wrist, holding it steady. He turned on her with an angry look and Steve jumped in to diffuse the situation.

"Hey, Thor, just wait!" He snapped. "We haven't decided who's going to put that thing on."

"Oh, I'm sorry…. We're all just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?"  
"We should at least discuss it." Scott said.

"Look, sitting here staring at the thing is not going to bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, ok. So this responsibility falls upon me. It is my duty…."

Tony moved in front of Thor. "It's not that easy."

"Thor, stop." Buffy commanded. Her voice held such power in it that it that snapped everyone in the room to attention.

Tears sprang to Thor's eyes. "Just let me do it. Let me do something good. Something right."

Buffy softened her tone. "You're in no condition. That glove…. It's dangerous."

"She's right." Tony agreed. "It's channeling enough energy to light up a continent."

"What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?" Thor asked.  
"Cheez Whiz?" Rhodes quipped.

Thor pointed an annoyed finger at Rhodes, but kept his attention on Buffy and Tony. "Lightening."

"Lightening won't help you, pal." Bruce said. "It's gotta be me. You saw what those Stones did to Thanos. They almost killed him. None of you could survive."

"How do we know you will?" Angel asked.

"We don't, but the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like, uh…. I was made for this." Bruce approached the glove and gently took it out of the case.

"You good to go?" Tony asked.

"Let's do it."

"Remember, everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago…. You're just bringing them back to now. To today. Don't change anything from the last five years."

"Got it."

Everyone with helmets activated them. Steve and Buffy moved closer together to stand behind his shield. Tony activated his nanosuit and Angel moved to stand with him and Clint as Tony held up a forcefield in front of them.

"Friday, do me a favor and activate barn door protocol for me, will you?" Tony said.

"Yes, boss." Friday answered and the shields began coming down over every window and door.

Bruce looked down at the gauntlet. "Everybody comes home." He slipped the glove onto his hand and the nanotech stretched and reformed to fit his large hand. The energy from the Stones activated and ran up his arm. Bruce cried out and fell to his knees.

"Take it off! Take it off!" Thor yelled.

"No, wait!" Steve cried.

"Bruce, are you ok?" Buffy asked.

"Talk to me, Banner." Tony said.

Bruce gritted his teeth against the pain and nodded. "I'm ok." He lifted his hand, fighting the energy, and finally snapped his fingers. His eyes rolled up in the back of his head and he collapsed backwards. Everyone ran up to Bruce and knelt down beside him.

"Don't move him!" Tony sprayed healing coolant on Bruce's arm as Bruce held onto Steve's forearm with his good hand.

"Did it work?" Bruce asked.

"Friday, turn off barn door." Buffy said. The windows and doors all began uncovering themselves.

A cell phone on the table began to ring and Clint walked over to it. He picked it up, looking at it in awe. Tears sprang to his eyes as he answered it. "Honey?"

Scott had walked over to a nearby window and was looking out. "Guys, I think it worked."

A shadow fell over Bruce and they looked up in time to see a large, alien ship above them release rockets at the building. There was no time to react before the place exploded around them. Buffy felt herself being flung away from everyone and she landed in a heap before parts of the building began falling on her. The world went dark and when she opened her eyes, she realized her right arm, part of her torso, and both legs were pinned.

"Does anyone copy? Hello?" There was nothing but static on her earpiece. "Steve!" She screamed, coughing out dust. Her ribs protested against the extra pressure and she worried about them being broken. She tried to push the heavy debris off her, but it was no use. She couldn't get a good angle to find enough leverage. "Help!" There were fires all around her and she could hear water rushing somewhere below her. "Steve! Tony! Anybody! Help!"

"Buffy!" She could hear Steve and Tony yelling for her.

"Help! I'm here! I'm trapped!"

It felt like an hour before they finally found her. Tony used his lasers and Steve used his strength to unpin her. She struggled away from the debris and curled up in a ball for a moment. Then Steve was there, pulling her to him.

"Are you ok?" He asked, looking over every inch of her for visible injuries.

"She's got at least three bruised ribs," Tony said, scanning her vitals. "The suit took the hits. Good thing you didn't use that reserved energy to blow your way out. It could've collapsed this section on you."

Buffy looked down and realized her vibranium suit was glowing from all the impacts. "Then let's get the hell out of here."

"You're not gonna like what's out there." Tony said. He led Buffy and Steve out of the destruction to where Thor was standing looking out over what used to be the compound. Buffy's heart stopped when she realized what Thor was looking at. Not far off, Thanos sat on some debris wearing a suit of armor.

"How…." Buffy started.

"What's he been doing?" Tony asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Thor answered.

"Where are the Stones?" Steve asked.  
"Somewhere under all this." Tony said. "All I know is that he doesn't have them."

"So we keep it that way." Thor agreed.

"You guys know this is a trap, right?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, I don't much care." Tony retorted.

"Good." Thor said. "Just as long as we're in agreement." He held out his hands as storm clouds rolled in. Lightening flew to him and his suit was suddenly on. His hammer flew to one hand and his axe flew to his other. His hair and beard were braided as the lightening subsided. "Let's kill him properly this time."

The four of them made their way down the rubble towards the alien that had destroyed their lives. Thanos just watched them, not getting up. "You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you've shown me that's impossible. As long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Yup, we're all kinds of stubborn." Tony said.

"I'm thankful. Because now I know what I must do. I will shred this universe down to its last atom." Thanos stood and turned his back on them to grab his helmet off his insane axe/sword weapon and put it on. "And then, with the Stones you've collected for me, create a new one…. Teeming with life that knows not what it has lost, but only what it has been given. A grateful universe."

"Born out of blood." Steve said.

"They'll never know it because you won't be alive to tell them."

"What is it with you bad guys and your big mouths?" Buffy asked. "You all talk way too much."

Thor summoned his lightening to his hammer and axe and gave a war cry. Buffy, Steve, Tony, and Thor attacked Thanos from all four sides. Buffy used the saved energy in her suit from the explosion to hit Thanos in the chest. The energy released and Thanos went flying back. She pulled her scythe off her back and swung it around in a deadly arc.

The four of them took turns with Thanos. Eventually, Tony was knocked out of the fight. Steve and Buffy moved to attack together, but Thanos hit Steve through a pile of rubble. Thanos grabbed Buffy's throat and hauled her off her feet. She swung her scythe at him, but he caught it and yanked it away, throwing it off to the side. Then Thor was there, using his lightening and weapons. Thanos dropped Buffy to the ground and she scrambled away, coughing and trying to regain the air in her lungs.

Buffy turned around to see that Thanos had Thor pinned down and was driving Thor's axe into his chest. "No!" She ran over and jumped, grabbing Thanos by the head. She latched on with her legs and tried to twist his head sideways. She was unprepared for him to throw his head back and catch her in the face. He shook her off and she fell to the ground where he pinned her with his boot and began to crush her. She screamed as her ribs protested.

Suddenly, Thor's hammer flew through the air and crashed into Thanos, knocking him away from Buffy and Thor. They looked over to see Steve summon Mjolnir back to him. Thor grinned and said, "I knew it."

Buffy laid on the ground to catch her bearings. She watched as Steve expertly wielded Mjolnir and took a moment to appreciate the scene. "That's actually really hot." After a moment, she activated her gloves and called her scythe to her.

Just as Thanos managed to knock Mjolnir away from Steve, she intercepted the big, purple bastard. She twirled her scythe and caught Thanos in the leg with the blade. He cried out in pain and brought his sword/axe thing down towards her. Steve was suddenly there with his shield, but they were both surprised when the blade actually cut into the shield. The two of them went on the defense against Thanos. They were all surprised when Thanos brought the blade down again and the blade on Buffy's scythe didn't break. Thanos' weapon bounced off of it and she grinned at him in triumph.

"Guess it's not vibranium, then." Steve said, looking at the crack in his shield.

"This means nothing." Thanos growled. "You mean nothing."

"Every bad guy that's ever told me that? They're all just bad memories now." Buffy said. She pointed the edge of her blade at Thanos. "You'll be joining them today…. Again."

"In all my years of conquest, violence, and slaughter…. It was never personal. I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet you were Chosen to protect: I'm going to enjoy it. Very, very much."

Behind him, his army teleported in. More and more spaceships landed, the same ones that had landed in Wakanda. Thousands upon thousands of aliens poured out. Buffy and Steve exchanged looks as he stood at her side. He reached down and tightened the straps on his shield.

"I'm having déjà vu again." Buffy said.

"Have we been in this situation before?" Steve asked.

"I have. Reminds me of the time I took about twenty-five teenage girls down to face an army of ancient vampires."

"There's only two of us right now."

The blonde Slayer shrugged. "Same difference. You ready?" He nodded and they began walking towards the horde of aliens.

Suddenly, their earpieces activated. "Hey guys, do you read me?" A very familiar voice said. They stopped walking. "Guys, it's Sam. Can you hear me? On your left."

Buffy and Steve turned to see a circle of light appear on their left side. Three figures walked through it and Buffy's heart leapt to see it was Shuri, T'Challa, and Okoye. Sam flew out of the circle above them as more and more circles of light appeared all around them. Willow, Xander, Giles, and Dawn stepped out together and Buffy felt tears burning her eyes. The Wakandan army came out of one while the army of Slayers was led out of another by Bucky, Rona, Kenndy, and Groot. Thor and Tony came to and joined Buffy and Steve. Pepper appeared in a suit of her own. The Spider kid swung in from another circle with Drax, Quill, Mantis, and Doctor Strange. The rubble behind them exploded outward and a giant Scott appeared with Bruce, Angel, Rocket, and Rhodes.

Suddenly, the odds were a lot more even.

Steve and Buffy grinned at each other as he summoned Mjolnir to him. "Avengers!" He yelled.  
"Slayers!" Buffy cried.

"Assemble!" They both yelled together.  
The armies ran at each other. Buffy and Steve moved back to back, falling into their old fighting style. Bucky was protecting Dawn, Giles, and Xander, but they were holding their own against the aliens that attacked them. Willow and Wanda worked together with their magics, putting on an impressive display to go along with Doctor Strange and his band of sorcerers.

"Cap, what do we do with this damn thing!?" Clint yelled as he ran across the battlefield holding the gauntlet.

"Get those Stones as far away as possible." Steve yelled.

"No!" Bruce yelled. "We need to get them back where they came from."

"No way to get them back." Tony said. "Thanos destroyed the Quantum Tunnel."

"Hold on." Scott said. "That wasn't our only time machine." From across the battlefield, the sound of a car horn playing "La Cucaracha" could be heard. Scott's van had been there!

"Does anyone see an ugly brown van out there?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Valkyrie said. "But you're not going to like where it's parked."

"Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?" Tony asked.

"Uh, maybe ten minutes." Scott answered.

"Get it started!" Steve said. "We'll get the Stones to you."

"We're on it, Cap." A woman's voice said. Buffy assumed it was Hope Pym.

Steve suddenly grabbed Buffy's waist and flung her around. She stiffened her legs and took out four Chitauri. Then Willow was there, using her magic to crush the aliens around them. "Way to call in the cavalry, Will." Buffy said. "How did you know?"

"I didn't. Doctor Strange showed up and told us. We were trying to figure out how to explain the last five years to everyone." Willow said. "I'm going to pick that guy's brain once this is over. His knowledge of magic is supposed to be amazing."

Buffy decapitated four aliens that Steve had tossed her way. "Thor says his place in New York has a bunch of cool magic stuff."

"I know! Hey, can we talk about the fact that your husband is able to use Thor's hammer?"

The Slayer grinned. "It's sexy, right?"

"I mean, I swing the other way, but sure!" Willow magically threw a large group of aliens away. "Have you ever tried picking up the hammer?"

"I had the opportunity once."

"Did you take it?"

"I didn't need to." Buffy killed two more large aliens with her scythe and grinned at Willow. She turned and picked up Mjolnir, handing it back to Steve.

Willow's eyes widened. "You can lift it!"

"Shh. Our little secret."

Above them, the extra-large spaceship lowered its massive guns and began shooting. Willow threw up a green shield around her, Buffy, and Steve. The sorcerers all around the battlefield threw up their own shields to protect who they could. They heard Peter Parker yelling for help and turned to see him holding the Gauntlet and going down under a large horde of aliens.

"Hey, Queens, heads up." Steve looked at Willow and she dropped the shield so he could throw Mjolnir. Peter caught it with his web and held on as it flew him out of the horde.

"Where are Xander, Giles, and Dawn?" Buffy asked.

"They're safe." Bucky announced, running up to them. "I made them go back to Wakanda until this was over."

Buffy jumped on Bucky and hugged him tightly. He laughed and hugged her back. Willow threw up her shield as the guns started up their barrage again. Then suddenly, everything stopped as the guns pointed skyward. Buffy, Steve, Bucky, and Willow looked up to see what the guns were now firing at.

"It's Carol!" Buffy said.

"Who?" Bucky asked.

"Long story. Tell you later if we don't die."

Carol flew directly towards the ship and then _through_ the ship. She did it again through the other side and the thing exploded. The guns died and the ship crashed into the water.

"Danvers, we need an assist here." Steve said.

Carol flew down and landed next to Buffy. "Cap. Hey Buff."

"Took you long enough." Buffy joked. "Hey, we need to find Peter. He's got the Stones."

"How does he have the Stones?"

"Long story. Tell you later if we don't die."

"Ok." They split up to find Peter and Carol grabbed Buffy around the waist to fly over the battlefield. "Glad to see you're back in the fight. Natasha said you'd quit."

Buffy flinched at her friend's name. "I had some sense talked into me. There!" Buffy pointed to where she saw Peter curled in a ball around the Gauntlet in a crater of rubble.

"Hey. Hi, Miss Summers." Peters said when they landed. "I don't know if you remember me. I'm…. I'm Peter Parker. We sort of met in Germany."

"I remember you, Peter. Carol, Peter. Peter, Carol."

"Hey Peter Parker." Carol said. "You got something for me?"

Buffy helped Peter to his feet. They looked at the alien army that had regrouped and was running straight for them. "I don't know how you're going to get it through all that." Peter said, handing the Gauntlet to Carol.

"Don't worry." Wanda said, landing next to them with Valkyrie riding up on a winged horse.

Okoye led a large group of Slayers towards them with Shuri. "She's got help."

"That's a lot of girls." Peter said to Buffy as Pepper landed in front of them.

Buffy grinned at him. "Girl power." She twirled her Scythe and the group of women charged at the alien army. "Carol, get the Gauntlet to the ugly brown van. Scott will be there waiting for you."

"Got it!" Carol flew off in a ball of fiery energy.

Thanos appeared in front of them and Buffy ran straight at him. She fended off his large weapon with her blade and jumped, kicking him hard in the head. Pepper, Willow, Shuri, and Wanda appeared, hitting Thanos with magic. He fell back and landed in a heap. Before they could stop him, he sat up and threw his weapon at the van. The Quantum Tunnel exploded and everyone was blasted back.

Buffy recovered quickly after hitting a large rock. She called her scythe to her and looked up just in time to see Thanos attacking Tony and trying for the Gauntlet. Without thinking about it, she threw herself at the big purple bad guy. Tony yelled her name as she took on Thanos, dodging blows and staying out of his grasp. Then Thor was there, backing her up with his axe. The two of them kept Thanos off balance while Tony recovered.

Thanos managed to grab Buffy by her arm and tossed her away. She hit the ground and rolled, smacking her head on a large piece of rebar and concrete. The world went black for a few seconds and when she came to again, Carol was taking on Thanos. Steve was laying unconscious on the ground a few feet away. She scrambled over to him as Carol stopped Thanos from using the Gauntlet he'd managed to grab.

"Steve, baby, wake up!" She shook him, but he didn't wake up. He was still breathing, thankfully. Carol suddenly went flying past her and Buffy turned to see Thanos with the Gauntlet on. "No!"

Tony attacked Thanos, grabbing the Gauntlet. Buffy grabbed her scythe and ran over, jumping on Thanos' back and gripping his head. He growled and tried to shake her off, but she punched him in the head multiple times. Tony was pulling on the Gauntlet and Buffy desperately tried to distract Thanos enough so he could pull it off, but Thanos hit Tony hard in the chest. Tony went flying back and Thanos tried again to shake Buffy.

He finally managed to throw her off him and she landed in a heap at his feet. "I am inevitable." Thanos said, snapping his fingers. To her surprise, nothing happened. Buffy looked up at the glove and realized it wasn't glowing and the Stones were missing. Her head turned to see Tony hold up his hand and reveal the Stones taking their place in his gauntlet. Thanos was staring in confusion at his hand until Buffy screamed Tony's name.

"I am Iron Man." Tony said, snapping his fingers.

Buffy put her scythe on her back and scrambled over to Tony, holding him up. Around them, the aliens started turning to dust, but her attention was on her friend. He was smoldering from the power of the glove and his breathing was shallow.

"Friday, I need that cooling spray!" Buffy moved Tony's good hand over his injured half with the cooling spray.  
"Mrs. Rogers, his life functions are critical." Friday said from Tony's suit in her earpiece.

She was blinded by her tears and tried to blink them away as she looked at him. "I told you not to do anything stupid." Buffy wept, placing her hand on the side of his face that wasn't burned.

He tried to smile at her, but it was quick and faint. Tony reached up and touched her hand on his cheek. "I love you, kid."

Steve walked up and stood behind Buffy, gently touching her shoulder to let her know he was there. Rhodes landed next to them and then Peter swung over. Rhodes looked at Buffy and she shook her head. Their friend was going to die and they couldn't stop it.

Peter dropped to his knees in front of them. "Mr. Stark? Can you hear me? It's Peter." He looked at Buffy. "Can you help him?" Buffy shook her head, still holding Tony up as her tears fell. "We won. Mr. Stark…. We won, Mr. Stark. We won. You did it, sir. I'm sorry, Tony."

Buffy looked up at Pepper as she helped a sobbing Peter to his feet. She knelt down and touched his nanosuit pack. "Hey." She said.

"Hey, Pepper." Tony whispered, taking his wife's hand.

"Friday?" Friday announced sadly that his life functions were critical. Pepper smiled at her husband as Buffy helped move Tony into her arms. "Tony, look at me. We're gonna be ok. You can rest now."

Buffy stood up and Steve wrapped his arms around her, both of them crying together. Tony's pack light died as his life left him and Pepper began to sob. The Avengers gathered around their fallen comrade, tears falling down their faces.


	6. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Buffy stood at the edge of the water and closed her eyes. She felt the breeze wash over her and sighed. It was the day of Tony's funeral. They were gathered at his and Pepper's beautiful cabin for the service. It had been a week since the battle. In that week, they had held a small memorial service for Natasha, begun work to clear out the rubble of headquarters, and Bruce had started working on a new machine so someone could go back to return the Stones.

A hand gripped hers and Buffy opened her eyes to find her sister standing there. "Hey." Dawn said, hugging her sister tightly.  
"I'm glad you're here." Buffy said.

"I wouldn't be anywhere else. Tony was our big brother."

The blonde Slayer wiped her eyes as the tears began again. "I just got him back only to lose him."

"Buff, he loved you. Besides Pepper and Morgan, you were always his favorite person."

"We lost so much time being stupid and stubborn."

"I'm sorry, Buffy." Dawn hugged her sister again.

Steve walked up to his wife and sister-in-law. "They're starting."

"Ok." Buffy accepted the tissue Steve had brought her as Dawn headed for the house. "Thank you."

He watched her for a long moment, the wind blowing her hair across her face. Gently, he reached out and pushed it behind her ears. She looked up at him with watery eyes and he pulled her to him. They stood there for a minute, trying to comfort each other.

Tony had apparently made a video to go with his will and they were playing it just for Tony's closest friends and family before the funeral. Tony had left Buffy and Dawn each an insanely huge amount of money. He had left Stark Industries to Pepper, Buffy, and Steve. Pepper was to run the majority of the company, but Buffy and Steve were to run anything having to do with the Avengers and the Slayers. He knew it was the best way to keep everything running without him so the world would always be safe from the forces of darkness. To Buffy's complete surprise, Tony had made the will a few years ago when they had been on the outs.

"Everybody wants a happy ending, right?" They heard Tony's voice saying as they walked into the house. "But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time. I'm hoping if you play this back it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited. I hope we get it back and something like a normal version of the planet has been restored…. If there ever was such a thing. God, what a world…. Universe now. If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone, let alone, you know, to this extent…. I mean, wouldn't have been surprised, but come on! Who knew the epic forces of darkness and light have come into play and for better or worse, that's the reality that Morgan's going to have to find a way to grow up in. Thank god she has an aunt that's pretty decent at navigating that world. Buffy, I need you to know that I've been so happy to have you back in my life again. My world is a lot darker without my little sister in it. Not a damn thing better happen to you. I know a witch who could make your afterlife hell." Steve squeezed Buffy's waist gently as Tony laughed at himself. "Seriously, though, I thought I had better record a little greeting in the case of an untimely death on my part. You know, not that death at any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're going to try to pull off tomorrow…. It's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. Then again, that's the hero game. Part of the journey is the end. What am I even tripping for? Everything's going to work out exactly the way it's supposed to. I love you 3000." Tony's hologram message switched off.

Pepper led the way out to the lake with Morgan after a long few minutes of silence. She carried a beautiful flower arrangement with Tony's original power pack. Around it said "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart." Pepper had given it to him years ago when he had first become Ironman. All around the yard, the heroes Tony had surrounded himself with came to pay their respects. Happy looked back and gave Dawn a smile. She reached out from her place beside her sister and brother-in-law and squeezed his hand. They had gotten close in the time that Dawn was the doctor at HQ. Morgan helped her mother place the flower arrangement in the water at the edge of the dock and they watched it begin to float away.

Pepper turned around and she and Buffy shared a long hug. Morgan walked up and wrapped her arms around Buffy's waist. Buffy knelt down and hugged her adopted niece tightly. "Hey Morgy Monster."

"Hey, aunt Buffy." Morgan said sadly.

Buffy pushed Morgan's hair behind her ears. "I don't know about you, kiddo, but I could sure use a juice pop."

"Me too."

The Slayer stood up and lifted Morgan easily into her arms. She carried the girl past the others, smiling slightly and nodding at her friends as she went. Fury touched her shoulder as she walked past and she smiled at him, giving his hand a quick squeeze. It was then that she realized that Peter had followed them in, too.

Steve was right behind them and followed them into the kitchen. "Allow me." He went to the fridge and pulled out a variety of juice pops. "Ladies choice."

Morgan and Peter took purple ones, Buffy took a pink one, and Steve took a red one. The three of them sat down and opened their treats.

* * *

A while later, most of the group had left. Morgan was hanging out with Happy and Dawn. Steve was speaking with Bruce about the plans to take the Stones back. Buffy had once again retreated to the edge of the lake. She was sitting on the tire swing and staring out over the water again.

Clint walked up to her. "Want a push?"

Buffy smiled slightly and stood up. "Nah. But I could use a friend."

"I think I can provide that." Clint wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she wrapped hers around his waist. They were quiet for a long time. "You know, I wish there was a way that I could let her know…. That we won. We did it."

"She knows. They both do."

"Do you think they made it? To heaven?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think they did."

"What was it like there?"  
"My memory of it isn't very clear anymore, but I remember that I was happy. I remember that I knew my friends and my family were all going to be ok."

"You knew it?"  
"I did."

Clint nodded. "So, you and Cap are going back to return the Stones?"

"Yes."

"Be careful, Buff. We can't lose anyone else." Clint kissed the side of her head and then walked away to meet his family.

Buffy looked up at the sky, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes again. She felt a presence beside her and turned to find Peter standing there. "Hey, kid."

"Hi, Mrs. Rogers." Peter said uncertainly.

"Peter, if I have to tell you again to call me Buffy, I'm going to throw you in the lake."

"Sorry. Um, Mrs. Potts…. Pepper…. She said that I should talk to you."

"What about?"

"Uh, she said that you were taking over Mr. Stark's…. Tony's role. That you're the new head of the Avengers."

"Steve and I share that equally."

"Well, uh…. What's my role?"

Buffy blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm Spiderman. Tony…. He made me an Avenger and now he's not here anymore, so you're my leader…."

She smiled slightly. "Peter, your role is to be a kid. You're sixteen years old."

"But…. I'm Spiderman."

"Come here," She led them over to the nearby dock and sat down on the edge, taking her heels off so they wouldn't fall in the water. Peter sat down next to her and looked at her expectantly. "I was fifteen…. Almost the same age as you when I was called as the Slayer. This insane burden of protecting the world was dropped on my shoulders and I had absolutely no choice in the matter."

"Sounds familiar."

"I was alone for a long time. I didn't have anyone to really share this burden with. The lore said 'one girl in all the world Chosen to fight the forces of darkness.' It also said that when a Slayer died, the next one was called. Well, I died when I was sixteen. For about five minutes. That called Kendra as the next Slayer. She was killed not very long after, so Faith was called. I thought…. For about five minutes…. That I had someone I could share my burden with, but it became apparent really quickly that wasn't it. She ended up going evil, killed some people, did a lot of bad things, and then got herself locked up. I was alone until Willow and I made an army of Slayers. And then I met the Avengers. I was suddenly surrounded by superheroes."

"That's really cool."

"And that's the world you live in, Peter. You're not alone in saving the world. You wanna just be the friendly neighborhood Spiderman, fighting crime when he stumbles across it? Then do that."

"You mean it?"

"You and your friends are going to be incredibly busy trying to find where you fit in now that you're back after five years. Be busy with that. Leave the world saving stuff to us."

"Thank you, Mrs. Rog…. Buffy."  
"Anytime, kid."

Peter was quiet for a long time. "You know, he talked about you a lot. He really loved you."

"He really loved you, too. He was proud of you."

"We're going to be ok, right?"

Buffy reached out and squeezed Peter's hand. "Yeah. We're going to be ok."

* * *

Steve looked down at his wife after they walked away from Stark Tower in 2012. They had returned the staff last, leaving it with the downed 2012 Steve. "Ready to go home?" He asked.

"I had one stop I wanted to make before we do." Buffy said.

Steve cocked his head. "Do we have enough particles for that?"

"We do. I asked Hank Pym for some extras."

"Where did you have in mind?"

A few minutes later, the two of them were standing on the front lawn of 1430 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, California. The date was February 26, 2001. Joyce Summers would die the next day of a burst aneurism in her brain. At the moment, the fifteen-year-old Dawn was at school and the twenty-year-old Buffy was dealing with a homicidal robot across town on the campus of UC Sunnydale.

Buffy turned her Quantum Realm suit into low cut jeans and a flowy brown tank top. Steve changed into a pair of jeans and a blue button up shirt. His wife laughed slightly and untucked it. She turned back to her home and took a deep breath. Taking Steve's hand, she mounted the stairs and opened the front door.

"Mom?" She called out.

A moment later, Joyce appeared from the kitchen and Buffy launched herself into her mother's arms. "Buffy! What a surprise! I didn't expect you home until later this evening." She eyed Steve warily. "Who's this?"

"Can we sit down?" Buffy avoided the living room and sat down at the dining room table. Steve sat down next to her and Joyce sat at the head of the table.

"What's going on?" She reached out and stroked her daughter's face, knowing instantly this was a different Buffy than the one she had seen just that morning. "My little girl…. You look so much older."

"Oh, mom…." Buffy gripped her mother's hand. "God, I've missed you so much."

"Sweetie, I'm right here."

She stared at her mom's face, remembering every laugh line and the color of her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, you are. Mom, this is Steve. Steve, this is my mom, Joyce Summers."

Joyce reached out to shake Steve's hand and noticed the ring on his finger. She looked at her daughter's hand and saw a matching wedding band there. "You two are married?"

"We are."

"Where are you coming from?"

"We're here from 2023, ma'am." Steve said.

Tears sprang to Joyce's eyes. "Oh, Buffy. Oh, my sweet girl. You've made it that long?"

"I have, mom." Buffy said. "It's been a long, hard road, but I'm still here."

"I'm so glad of it. You'll never know how glad of it I am." Joyce sobered quickly, squeezing Buffy's hand tightly. "I take it I'm not around."

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok. It's ok, Buffy. Mothers are meant to go before their children. I'll go to my grave one day knowing that my little girl lives on and finds happiness." She took Steve's hand. "How much time do we have? Tell me about yourselves. I want to know everything. Where did you two meet? When did you get married? And where? Was the ceremony beautiful? Did your father give you away? Do I have grandkids?"

Buffy laughed. "We've got a little time before past me shows up. Where should we start?"

"Your daughter and I met through work." Steve offered.  
"You have a job?" Joyce asked. "Is it a good job?"

"It's a great job. Can you believe that someone actually pays us to save the world?" Buffy joked.

"Really? That's so exciting. I've never thought it was fair of that Watcher's Council to expect you to fight for your life night after night with no compensation for it."

"Trust me, neither did I."

"Was it love at first sight?"

"No." Buffy and Steve said together.

"I mean, I thought he was handsome…."

"And I thought she was beautiful." Steve added.

"There was definitely a connection between us, but it took us a couple of years before we finally got together. We were friends first."

"Ma'am, I want you to know that I love your daughter more than anything." Steve said, taking Buffy's hand. "I try to make her happy and to keep her as safe as possible each and every day."

Joyce squeezed Steve's free hand. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. Thank you, Steve." She leaned in conspiratorially. "Do I have grandkids?"

Buffy and Steve exchanged looks. "You had a granddaughter." Buffy finally said quietly. "I miscarried around 22 weeks." Joyce reached out and hugged her daughter tightly. "We named her Adaline Grace Rogers."

"That's so beautiful. I'm so sorry, honey. I'm so sorry for both of you. That's an awful loss to bear."

"We're going to start trying again soon." Steve announced.

"Willow found a spell to help us." Buffy added.

"Oh, she's so smart." Joyce said. "I'm so glad you have her as a friend still." She wiped at her tears. "Tell me about your wedding? I've always dreamed about it, Buffy."

"We got married in Africa in a country called Wakanda." Buffy said. "It was a small ceremony and no, dad didn't give me away."

"I've actually never met her father." Steve said.

Joyce rolled her eyes. "It's my biggest regret in life that I gave you such a terrible father, Buffy. I'm so sorry."

"It's ok, mom." Buffy said.

"Oh, where are my manners? Let me get you guys some tea!" Joyce squeezed their hands and stood up.

"I'll help you." Steve offered.

* * *

Buffy laid her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes in relief. She listened to the sweetest sound in the world surround her. Her newborn baby was crying. Steve wiped the sweat from her forehead as he pushed her wet, matted hair back.

"You did it." He whispered, tears streaming down his face. He kissed her sweetly. "You did it, Buffy."

"Congratulations." Dawn announced, handing the tiny, screaming baby to her mother. "You have a beautiful, healthy baby girl."

"A girl! We have a girl!"

Buffy looked down in awe at the tiny bundle in her arms. "Hello, Sarah Joyce Rogers. Welcome to the world."

It had been two years since the final battle against Thanos. They had worked hard to rebuild what they had lost. The new headquarters would be complete in just five months. The Slayers would be coming over from Wakanda to begin training here once again. The universe was so much bigger and they needed all the help they could get. Things were still a little crazy with half the population just showing back up five years later, but the Avengers were working with the worlds' governments where they could to deal with the incident that had been dubbed "the Blip."

For now, Buffy and Steve were going to take those five months to be a family and acquaint themselves with their daughter. It had taken nearly two years for Buffy to get pregnant again and Willow had immediately done the protection spell. For nine months, everyone walked on eggshells. Shuri had visited regularly to assist Dawn with any of the medical needs for her dear friend. She was also responsible for a lot of the technology going into the new HQ.

Steve laid his forehead against Buffy's and they looked down at their bundle of pure joy. She was now staring back up at them with eyes that were a deep blue. "She's perfect." Steve said, reaching out to run a finger down his daughter's cherubic cheek. "I should go tell everyone."

"We'll do it." Shuri offered. "You guys just be here with her." She smiled brightly at the little family and headed out to the conference room. Buffy had given birth in Romanoff Hall, the medical wing of the new HQ. The completion had been rushed so the smallest Avenger could make her debut in the place where she would grow up.

Dawn and Shuri walked towards the large conference room where everyone was waiting. T'Challa stood with Okoye, Bucky, and Sam. Pepper sat with Peter, Morgan, and Happy. Willow was there with Wanda, Giles, and Xander. Angel and Connor were standing together and talking amongst themselves. Connor had decided to join his father at Headquarters and was in training. He and Buffy got along great.

Carol had gotten the page and come racing back. She was now standing with Fury and Maria Hill. Rhodes was pacing anxiously back and forth near the door with Bruce doing the same in the opposite direction. Clint and his family were there, holding their nine-month-old baby, Natasha. Scott and Hope sat with the Pyms at the table, talking amongst themselves.

Thor came running into the room. "Did I miss it!?"

Everyone turned as Dawn and Shuri walked in. They smiled and said in unison, "It's a girl!"

Buffy and Steve could hear the cheering from down the hall. They just shared a smile and a kiss and continued to stare at their perfect, tiny creation.


End file.
